Beyond the question of who is responsible, or if this person is owed anything for the risks they took, my biggest gripe with these stories isn't Bird or scooters, or governments bureaucracy or litigiousness, but instead, simple the dollar amounts involved.
Bird claims it has spent $322,171 defending LA against this suit - which was filed in November 2019. The average US Salary in 2019 was $32K. That means that 10 man-years of average-american time has been spent on this case? Or one lawyer, making 10x the average american's salary, working full time? On the flip side, the guy is suing for millions and was going to work at a sandwich shop. Is he expecting _more than a lifetime_ worth of value from society because he had an accident?
These stories would all be so much less offensive to the senses if the numbers were within the realm of rationality. If he was suing for 150k and 2.5 years of legal defenses cost 50k, the outcome just wouldn't be nearly as important. As is, either "big corporation victimizes little guy" or "some drunk guy gets millions for falling down". It's a no-win situation.
Bird claims it has spent $322,171 defending LA against this suit - which was filed in November 2019. The average US Salary in 2019 was $32K. That means that 10 man-years of average-american time has been spent on this case? Or one lawyer, making 10x the average american's salary, working full time? On the flip side, the guy is suing for millions and was going to work at a sandwich shop. Is he expecting _more than a lifetime_ worth of value from society because he had an accident?
These stories would all be so much less offensive to the senses if the numbers were within the realm of rationality. If he was suing for 150k and 2.5 years of legal defenses cost 50k, the outcome just wouldn't be nearly as important. As is, either "big corporation victimizes little guy" or "some drunk guy gets millions for falling down". It's a no-win situation.