Pirates_Ghost

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While trying to use a can of hair spray, Lorraine Squicciarini found
the nozzle was clogged. Run the nozzle under warm water, maybe? No way:
with a can opener, she "opened a hole in the bottom of the Aquanet can in
an attempt to clear the nozzle. The contents, including vapors and highly
flammable and explosive materials," blew out of the can. "The pilot light
of the gas range ignited it," said the family's lawyer, David Schoen.
"She soon became engulfed in flames, turning her whole body, virtually
from head to toe, into a ball of fire."

Horrific. In the burn ward she begged to die and, the day after the
accident, she did.

The cause of the accident is not in dispute. In fact, the quoted words
above about how she pierced the can of hair spray with a can opener were
from the lawsuit filed by Squicciarini's daughters against Unilever USA,
which makes Aquanet. The suit, filed in the Brooklyn Supreme Court,
claims wrongful death. It seeks $10 million in damages plus $100 million
in punitive damages. The suit says the company manufactured a "defective"
product and provided "inadequate" warnings and instructions on the can.
"The printed warning against puncturing the can," Schoen claims, "which
was insufficient then, remains insufficient."

You mean there already was a warning on the can that the victim
ignored? Yes! Spray cans already warn that they should not be punctured.
And hair spray cans note that the contents is flammable. Do people REALLY
need to be specifically told in giant red letters on every spray can not
to puncture it in the presence of open flames? And is it truly an
outrageous act not to do that -- so outrageous that the company is
obligated to be penalized to the tune of $100,000,000 to be paid to the
family of someone who committed such a stupid act?

Squicciarini did not deserve a senseless, painful death. But it's even
more barbaric to blame someone else for an incredibly stupid thing she
did to herself.


SOURCE:

1) "Kin Sue in Hair Spray Fire Death", New York Daily News, 24 December
2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect5.pl?71f

__________________
You can't wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you - Look, if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor, just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!