Rep. Dennis Kucinich files lawsuit over olive pit

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In my opinion this is just in poor taste (no pun intended).

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He must have been chowing down! I don't know why this merits an alley discussion, unless we are bemoaning the ridiculous amount being asked for. Sure, the damage was probably severe, but not that expensive to get fixed.

 

He's just trying to force them to settle. I'm sure he expects much less in the end. The insurance probably wouldn't pay.

 

Kucinich is a dip. Film at 11.

 

Wouldn't your national health care cover that, like in most western countries? Oh wait, never mind.

 

Ever bitten into an olive pit? It hurts. I have done that and ever since then I am very careful when eating a Döner sandwich or a Lamancun.

But then, in case of injury I needn't sue anyone because my public health insurance covers the treatment, irrespective of my biting into an olive pit or a stone in my bread.

Kusinich is probably trying to recover his treatment cost. That is, in the context of how the US have arranged their health care system, probably economically reasonable.

 

Don't Representatives have public health care? Wasn't that one of the things being so bemoaned when the law was being discussed (that they already had what many felt we all deserved, and they didn't apparently want to share)?

Anyway, I've never bitten into an olive pit, but I have cut them up. I'd guess you'd have to be really chowing down to break a tooth on them (a guess at what happened), but then some people really bite into their sandwiches.

On the up side, at least he isn't suing them for $56 million for emotional distress or some such.

 

Can't people just demand to have the costs paid back after the damage has been fixed? Or is that too cumbrous and tedious?

 

I guess the thing that bothered me about it, is I don't want our leaders involved in such stupid things. He had to know that by doing this he was going to become a national joke. All of the late night talk shows will be making fun of him. They even mentioned it on this mornings sports talk radio show. I also don't understand how this cost him any money as he surely has health and dental coverage that is probably much better then I do and I would have been covered.

 

Ah well, and then there is the possibility that sometimes otherwise perfectly reasonable people get weird ideas when they are personally involved (that's the underlying wisdom of the insight that it is bad to have lawyers try cases involving themselves), be it because they are pissed off or otherwise emotional or outright irrational.

IMO nobody is immune from that. Who writes otherwise is probably kidding himself as much as he tries to kid his readers.

 

OK, but using that logic where were his advisors/lawyers. Shouldn't they have an invested interest in making sure he doesn't look like an ass?

 

Depends. Say a client insists in something unreasonable even after a lawyer tells him he is being unreasonable. In that case lawyers usually have him sign a form that he has been informed about being on a quixotic quest (to make him ware of that, and to give him a red line to cross, and so that he can't sue them later [after all, unreasonable people are per definition unreasonable]), and the lawyer argues the case professionally while using formulations like: My client is of the view/ holds the position that ...

That is easily understood by his colleagues, and it certainly beats such a client arguing his own case.

That said, in Kusinich's case there is a lot we don't know from the article, especially about previous interactions between Kusinich's side and the restaurant, and the actual severity of his dental injuries.

 

It's not really that stupid, and hardly news worthy. You have yet to explain why it is "stupid."

We have large numbers of Congressmen and women who are "national jokes." Do you really want to start listing them?

You mean they took time out from making fun of Sarah, Obama, McCain, Bachmann, etc? Their writers scan the news digging for stuff that is fairly useless, but could be worthy of a one-liner when making the deadline for the night's script. So what?

Now, that is something we should all take note of. I mean, if it's on sports talk radio it could be of national, even international importance.

Really? Have you seen his medical bills? I didn't think so. So really it's not even any of your business.

What's "stupid" is that people even consider this piece of trivia to be "news." What's worse is that this is a medical issue, which REALLY is a private matter. It's not like he was "hiking the Appalachian Trail, or paying off bribes to the family of his mistress, or making home videos of himself screwing his mistress, while his wife was sufffering from a terminal illness. And then all these nitwits getting up and telling us all about how "character matters." Sorry, this isn't even worthy of a footnote in the national dialogue.

And I thought you only made this thread because you were bored.

 

You are looking at this from a different direction than I am. I didn't post it because he was a Dem. I also don't expect everyone to be a saint as I know I'm not one either. However, I think the major difference between this and the "scandals" you posted about are in the other cases the politician got "caught", here he actively put himself on the "ridicule firing line".

If someone is an idiot, they can be saved by hiring smart people to surround them and either clean up their mistakes or prevent them from happening. In this case IMO he made an idiotic move and nobody he surrounds himself with realized it or were able to stop him from doing it. I know if he was in my district I would not be happy with his decision making processes.

I put this in the same category as that Judge who was suing that family dry cleaning business for millions of dollars because of his pants. A judge and in this case a member of Congress should know better than to do things that will be setting them up for public ridicule.

 

Yes, but who cares about any of this? Really? The "ridicule line" as you describe it, is only those who worry over a liberal Dem's health and legal issues. The people in his district, and I once lived in it for a short while, may have a passing interest in it, maybe. But no one else really cares, except as you point out, late night TV. That is probably where it belongs, as a one-liner for a slow news day.

 

My only response is that it is receiving national attention so therefore it must be more then just the people in his district who seem to care.

 

Really? Cuz I didn't hear of it until your post, and I look at the news, the real news, at least 5 times a day. I guess I'm worried over the "wrong" issues. Maybe I should get my news from Leno and ESPN.

 

I think that Kucinch is probably pissed at the restaurant, and is suing more as a matter of principle than to have his expenses paid for. I'm sure the amount of $150,000 is for "pain and suffering", not his actual out-of-pocket expense of getting his tooth (or teeth) fixed.

The reason why I say it is likely a matter of principle is that 1) there's no way it actually cost him anywhere near $150,000 for the treatment and 2) while the sum he is suing for is greatly in excess of the personal cost, it's not a king's ransom either. It's not like he's suing for millions so he can comfortably retire. I mean, as a Congressman his annually salary is what? About $170,000 per year or so? I'm unsure as to the exact dollar value of his annual salary, but the amount he's suing for his probably only equal to several month's pay. And that's just his salary form Congress. If he's like other Congressmen, he has additional income streams from other places.

I think there's more here than we know. Sure, Kucinich's comments on UFOs were a little flakey, and I'm sure it hurts like hell to break a tooth, but it does not appear that this is something worth suing over unless other factors we are not aware of are at work.

 

I'm not sure how this justifies the lawsuit (other than in "the American way" sort of thing).