Folks around here ask all the time about perhaps taking legal action against the Mormon Church for having fallen for its baptism of baloney.

But is that the safest route to take, especially when you weren't paying attention to where you were going--and when you ultimately might not benefit from the attention a lawsuit could possibly bring to yourself?
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First, some background on theFunk Over the Dunk, as it happened to an embarrassed employee of a mall who fell headfirst into the mall's fountain while texting--as caught on security video that was eventually leaked to the Net:

"'. . . Fountain Lady vs. Mall Security'

"Last week, a video made the circuits of a woman making the all-too-common mistake of texting and walking. She just happened to be walking right in the path of a mall fountain.

"'I saw the water coming at me, I could see the pennies and nickels at the bottom of the fountain and then I was in it,' Cathy Cruz Marrero [said]. Soaked and shaken, [the video shows her] . . . get[ting] out hoping that no one saw her.

"Well, the security cameras in the mall did, and the guards played it over and over, much to the amusement of their friends, who recorded the whole thing, uploaded it to 'YouTube' and introduced the world to 'Fountain Lady.'

"Marrero, of course, wants the whole thing to go away, so she did what anyone would do to squash a viral video: She made the morning television rounds with a lawyer who said they would be investigating the incident and might consider suing the mall."

("Fountain Lady May Sue . . . Today's Legal Roundup," by Melissa Bell, "Washington Post," on "blogPOST," 20 January 2011, at:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/01/fountain_lady_may_sue_jeff_koo.html)


For an ABC News interview with the woman and her attorney, accompanied by the leaked video of her plunge into the Fountain of Doom, see also: "Good Morning America: 'Fountain Lady'; Woman Falls in Fountain, 'Nobody Went to My Aid;' Developing Story: 'Fountain Lady' Fights Back, Mall Fall May Lead to Lawsuit," ABC News, 20 January 2011, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOBZmNVgOz0
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Before you actually threaten to sue the Mormon Church over its pitfalls, however, you might want to first review your own situation to see what legal action may end up costing you by putting yourself in the spotlight with a lawsuit against a big corporations such as the mall-owning LDS Inc. (although, for the record, this particular mall isn't owned by the Mormon Church):

"Rule one: before hinting at a lawsuit, make sure you don't have any outstanding felony charges yourself.

"'Fountain Lady,' who became an Internet sensation last week after walking into a mall fountain while texting, said on 'Good Morning America' Thursday that she might sue the mall where she fell.

"I guess malls have to plan ahead for visitors who abstain from watching where they're walking.

"'Fountain Lady's' lawyer told ABC News he intends to 'hold the responsible parties accountable' for the incident, though it's unclear whether this references that no railing prevented her from falling in the fountain, that nobody responded to the incident after she fell or that a video of her fall was released.

"But it turns out that 'Fountain Lady,' also known as Cathy Cruz Marrero, faces legal charges herself - charges even more serious than assuming that pedestrians can avoid large structures on pathways.

"Marrero was charged in late 2009 with running up bills of more than $5,000 on a coworker's credit account at Target and Zales, according to ABC News. She was supposed to repay the money but never did, and will appear in court for sentencing in April.

"We can only hope her lawyer will give her a two-for-one discount.

"Meanwhile, 'Fountain Lady' is complaining that none of the mall staff helped her out of the fountain or even asked her if she was okay.

"Regardless of whether this is grounds for legal action, there is no denying that the video is still hilarious."

("'Fountain Lady' Faces Criminal Charges," by Paul the Octopus, on "Hot Topics," at: : http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/hottopics/detail?entry_id=81435#ixzz1BedsYqkg
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Bather beware. :)



Edited 16 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2011 05:18AM by steve benson.

This is why we have warning labels and commercials that say do not attempt. Lawyers and the stupid. It seems like nature back in the day programmed the stupid to spam spawn in the chance that one might not die in a hilarious way and repeat the cycle.

We eliminate the stupid by the removal of warning labels, and the lawyers starve to death win win

Except that she survived, she'd be a shoo-in for a Darwin Award.

suing someone else for their own stupidity?

Saved from one's own self despite all efforts to the contrary...can you imagine how badly this is screwing up natural selection?

It is always someone else's fault.

When people speak to me at my business with a phone in their hand and texting.

I simply walk away.

OMG LMAO ROTFWPIMP

All of these things create an interchangeability and meaning behind true human emotion.

Insensitivity is standard.

The world keeps getting dumber and LOL means nothing.

"haha" Steve

Then she tries to sue.....I saw the pennies coming at me!


Laughter.

It was the fountain ladies own fault, she was txting and walking, which usually an average human can do, but you have to be aware of your surroundings. So it would come down to: "It's your own fault, you weren't paying attention."

Too bad her lawyer can't be jailed.

Yes, she had an accident but I think the point is that she didn't want the entire world to see it over and over and so she has a lawyer to stop it.

It's a privacy issue. Should mall security make a blooper reel of all the funny things that happen in the mall? Would it have been different if it were a customer and not an employee?

A lawsuit against the LDS Church is a different matter. Where did all the money that you paid in tithing go? To build churches? To build malls? To pay for strippers, cocaine and booze for a private "apostles only" party?

No one really knows do they? You can't put your hand on a sheet of paper and say "okay, this is the amount of money that came in in 2010 and here is where it went."

When was the last time Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited audited the LDS books?

You could quietly tell the LDS Church that you will sue to get this information. Depending on how you played it, they might be willing to quietly settle with you. I doubt they want people to know what's going on in their empire and I'm willing to bet they would pay to keep it quiet.

Religion is a form of pure evil. The only time anyone can really go after it is if it rapes little children on a large scale. Otherwise, it's the greatest scam of all time!

You are told a certain amount of things in the missionary lessons up front before you are baptized as a new convert. There is a bunch of omitted or hidden information you are not made aware of before you are baptized that you don't know is there and don't know exists. You are told not to investigate the church by reading anti-mormon literature else the devil will confuse you. So really, they are telling you not to investigate your choice up front. But ultimately I guess it is your choice to buy the product. Most products must disclose information though before you buy it.

She kept going on about how no one came to her aid and no one came to ask if she was OK. She seemed irritated that you could hear laughing on the video.

Well, she got baptized very fast and jumped out of the font quickly. It was clear she was walking fine. Not many people were around.

She's just embarrassed. Texting and driving (er, I mean walking) are a bad idea.

Surely she can find a way to sue the phone company, the other shoppers, and everyone who laughed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2011 07:10PM by dagny.

Steve:
"[converts] having fallen for its baptism of baloney."

"But is that the safest route to take, especially when you weren't paying attention to where you were going"

Uh, yeah. NG reluctantly recognizes herself from this description.

I'm liking the comparison of this (silly) woman falling into the fountain unawares and Mormon converts leaping into the font before obtaining full knowledge. Except for the part where it embarrasses me that I did that. I can still remember my good (EV) friend's reaction when I came clean about getting mo-dunked. "But Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon using rocks in a HAT!!!!" he splurted, as his eyes got big and his eyebrows hiked up in amazement that I could fall for it. He also just could not believe I would have gone to his EV church with him for yrs and then opted to go mo.

It's definitely embarrassing to hear the more ridiculous parts of Mormonism being brought up and know that you actually chose that route yourself, unlike the BICs. The only consolation is that, yeah, they not only deliberately avoid fully informing prospective converts but they actively ensure that certain information will be hidden. And they LIE. (Have I ever mentioned that before?!) I can personally guarantee that no prospective converts I have ever met or can imagine would take the leap if they knew even a few of the more questionable or ridiculous or FAKE things about Mormonism.

Dagny:
"Well, she got baptized very fast and jumped out of the font quickly."

Hahahahahahaahahaa. Yeah.

If only you could cancel your decision to go mo that easily. I didn't jump quickly enough - in fact, I had to get dunked twice due to the dreaded dress floating up phenomenon that would apparently nullify my dunkage if not repeated. After the hellish baptism service (angry stupid bishop) the last thing I needed was to get double-dunked. I wonder if I'm the only convie who ever rose up out of the water frozen in misery, to absolute silence from the onlookers (who knew there was obviously a problem but weren't aware at the time what it was - did I mention angry stupid bishop).

Still, I proceeded to try and live up to the (mysterious) covenants for a further miserable three yrs. I can be slow on the uptake at times. :(

As for texting while walking, maybe it's marginally safer than doing it while driving (which, embarrassingly, a lot of females up here do, especially those in charge of super-tanker-size vehicles, while turning them with only one hand on the wheel, usually in parking lots - beware!). Safer for others that is. For the preoccupied one, not so much apparently. :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2011 09:26PM by Nightingale.

Since it has come to light that the said woman has some legal issues, I wonder if that was her phone. Or did she need to 'borrow' a colleague's phone since her battery 'died.'

Unfortunately, yes, people and companies are sued due to the stupidity of others.

Maybe in a country other than the US can the TSCC be sued for fraud.

It wasn’t like she fell for propaganda. - The fountain did not misrepresent itself.

She was not deliberately tricked, and misled. - The fountain did not disguise itself as a pillow, it did not flirt or lure her with invitations for a swim.

So, she was not looking where she was going... - Eight years olds don’t do due diligence, and people expect a church to be truthful. Many of us just fell into it.

Like jeezus, and his twoo church, the fountain was a stumbling block, and a rock of offense to people minding their own business, even if carelessly minding it.

She may actually get compensation for her suffering. - We don’t, because religion is a stone rolling forth, and falling for it or under it, is accepted, and expected behavior.

That's TSCC, the lard’s one and only, where members are not standing, but falling for something.

But ... but ... but she was texting somebody at CHURCH therefore she deserves a huge settlement ! *L*





Here's what the young turks have to say about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYwSpu2htm8&feature=channel



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2011 01:57PM by Dave the Atheist.