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It had to happen! 50 lawsuits are pending...1.5mil awarded

10K views 225 replies 81 participants last post by  surfin2 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Apparently a jury awarded 1.5 mil to a man who was injured using a table saw without the flesh detecting technology that SawStop uses.

See the article
 
#8 ·
What happened to taking responsibility for your own actions? Unless there is a severe quality issue with this particular saw?...it is well known that a saw is dangerous and capable of cutting through flesh…...If you buy and use a saw - you are taking your chances like anyone else.

I'm surprised that idiot did not sue god for making him so stupid that he would blame someone else for his own lack of intelligence….This kind of stuff is rediculous….and anyone that serves on a jury and awards these mental midgets money are just as bad as the plantiffs. Too many of them think that a company can afford to pay for the moron's stupidity so they make rediculous awards like this. That is why there are so few manufacturers making good tools for reasonable money…it is also why most of them locate overseas. All woodworkers end up paying for this with high prices and lack of choices…we really need tort reform.
 
#9 ·
It seems like the primary driving force behind this, and other similar, lawsuits … is the inventor of the SawStop technology.

It seems that he's been trying to "force" the other manufacturers to pay him for his technology, and implement it across the industry.

It might be appropriate that some of this resentment be pointed toward him.
 
#11 ·
Yes, its a bad thing! Its the government telling us what to buy. If I am concerned about an accident, then I buy the most safe tool out there which most likely now would be SawStop. If I think I can handle safety myself, then I have a choice of what to buy. Maybe we should demand that all saws come with a suit of armor too so we can stop kickback, which I bet occurs more often that a cut.
 
#12 ·
Lawsuits like these are bogus. If the saw was not in compliance with the law or malfunctioned, fine, but the saw did what it was designed to do…cut. Don't be stupid and sue over saws that cut or coffee that's hot or some other product doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

But I'm glad I got a Sawstop. I doubt I'd have ever had an accident but ******************** happens and I like my fingers. Totally worth it. But, 'worth it' is a consumer decision, not a legal one.
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
I agree that we should make tools as safe as possible. Does that involve forcing every manufacturer to install Saw Stop like technology NO! As much as I respect and like Saw Stop, this is a choice that we as consumers make. This isn't even an issue of ambulance chasing lawyers for me..even though it clearly is someone trying to cash in. It's about us as a society refusing to take the blame for our own actions. From the time we are kids we are programmed to blame other people for our mistakes and shortcomings…"Billy pushed me that's how the lamp got broken"..or "the teacher is a mean jerk that's why I got a D". Then when we become adults it still works for us.."McDonalds coffee was way too hot that's why I got burned" not that you were trying to drive and drink coffee at the same time. This type of thinking has risen to an absurd level, with people blaming their violent and psychopathic behavior on the fact that they were "abused" as a child…with the term 'abused" retaining all kinds of loose definitions. All the ridiculous lawsuits that get filed every day by unscrupulous lawyers and people seeing everything as a way to cash out….this country needs tort reform more than it needs health care reform.
This story reminds me of an interview I read a years ago in a woodworking magazine with the inventor of Saw Stop. He was saying he brought his idea to every major table saw manufacturer and they all told him the same thing..they didn't want to put it on their saws because it would be admitting that a table saw is dangerous. Who doesnt know that a table saw is dangerous? Just standing next to one when it gets flipped on your own human instincts tell you that there is a risk of injury. Common sense…..seems it's lacking and has been replaced by blame and litigation.
 
#15 ·
"Don't be stupid and sue over saws that cut or coffee that's hot or some other product doing exactly what it is supposed to do."

Please be careful when invoking the coffee/McDonald's case.

The facts are VERY different from what everybody seems to think, and go a LONG way to explaining both the underlying lawsuit AND the award.
 
#16 ·
I am a huge fan of the SawStop technology. Can I afford a $3000 saw? No! Now has anyone sued because of an old saw that does not have a riving knife? I am fairly sure that the government has been involved in how manufacturers build the safety devices on these saws. So how can someone sue just because they are using a saw that does not have the technology that the government DOES NOT require the other manufacturers to use? This most likely will go to appeals and I would not be surprised to see it over turned, but, they have opened a big ol' can of worms. Watch the price of power tools start to skyrocket! The market for older refurbished tools is going to blow up.
 
#18 ·
The problem is with the juries not with the lawyers. No lawyer would take this kind of suit to court if the jury award was only $100 but that never happens because a juror deciding on the case is hoping that they will be the next one to get the 1.5 mil. Greed, that is what it is all about.
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
>>>> I think there should be a comparison made as to the time it takes for an accident to happen and the time it takes for that Sawstop to work. I don't think there's anything that can shut down a spinning sawblade down in time to prevent an injury…. <<<<

I believe you are wrong here. I've seen YouTube video where someone pushed their hand into a spinning blade to see if the SawStop technology would work and the blade stopped and there was no more injury than a scratch. Of course if you fell on the blade you would probably be injured just like if you fell on a knife.

The big problem with the SawStop technology is that you liimit the types of material you can cut on the saw. Anything that changes electrical signature (not just fingers) of the spinning blade will cause the SawStop cartridge to fire and you will get to spend $100+ to replace the cartridge. Would you want that technology on you only table saw? I don't.
 
#22 ·
Fact #1. The SawStop technology is not fully mature.
Fact #2. All technologies have at least one point of failure.
Fact #3. Every single time somebody has made something "foolproof" there has been a new and improved fool.
Fact #4. I actually LIKE the SawStop technology.
Fact #5. SawStop prices their saws well out of my reach. A comparable Grizzly Contractor Saw, the GO661 10" 2 HP Contractor Style Table Saw with Riving Knife runs for $850.00 and features cast iron wings instead of stamped steel.
Fact #6. WITHOUT the abuse of the courts, I would be eagerly, and aggressively saving my nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars for a SawStop.
Fact #7. The business tactic of suing to advance your products standing in the market is VERY unappealing. And I refuse to do business with companies that abuse the courts for their financial gain. If your product is better, let the market determine that, not a judge or worse, a jury.

Long story short, I would love to own a SawStop, but due to their use of litigation as a business strategy I cannot bring myself to give SawStop money, in turn then by their own argument, SawStop, and specifically Goss are putting me at grave bodily risk.

I need a lawyer!
 
#24 ·
John - describe "a bit more"? I think somewhere between "a bit more" and the actual up in cost for a saw with this tech in it, is the problem.

tom1. DaveH - Gass himself was the one that put his finger to the test with the sawstop. however, during that demonstration his hand moved very very very slowly into the blade, which DOES INDEED stop in a split of a second, and his finger only gut a scuff… however, in a situation where a kickback occurs, and your hand is being pushed with force INTO the blade, I wonder if that split of a second really will be fast enough.

this is a good technology that most definitely will REDUCE injuries, but there are still a lot of nuances as to limitation of the technology, the specific of each case, each material (if you do turn off the tech to cut wet lumber - and you have an accident - can you sue sawstop? - wouldn't that be the same as this case right now)

so many speculations - and it alll all all boils down to politics. which - is a taboo subject here, and I agree.
 
#25 ·
Purplev, I paid about $1000 for my saw (Grizzly 1023something). If there was one with SawStop for under $1500 I probably would have saved a bit more and gotten it instead.

I understand that's a 50% increase, but to get a SawStop branded comparable saw I would have shelled out $3000.

I wish we had some real numbers to throw around, but we don't… We can only speculate how much it would add to the cost of a saw to put SawStop on it.
 
#26 ·
If this case is not an argument for tort reform, I don't know what is!

Gee, who would have ever thought that a saw blade spinning at at 5000 rpm would be dangerous? Maybe I'll touch it and see how much I can collect!
 
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