Drinking Contest Verdict Due At 1:45PM {Pacific Time}

[BurnedOutOnTheBoards]

The Bee and other sources say the verdict will be presented at 1:45pm.....

 

[livingfruitvirus]

Heard this: Jury orders Entercom Sacramento LLC to pay $16,577,118 in case of death following radio water contest

 

[WackyPants]

Silly amount. Is Entercom even worth $16 mill?

 

[DonnieV]

That's almost to the penny what they ended up paying Ed Stolz after court and attorney costs were deducted from the $25 million sale price.

And KWOD never killed anyone...

 

[Big D]

Maybe this will push them to sell 106.5 back to someone who can program a real alternative format.

 

[CHRles]

I hope Entercom appeals this decision. I really don't think it was the company and the station's fault. I think if anyone should cough up the money it's the FCC. They're supposed to regulate the radio industry when it's out of line. They could have threatened KDND with some fines once they'd found out they were to hold such a contest. But they didn't and you want to know why? As we all know 107.9 The end wasn't the first station to conduct this type of contest. What they did wasn't illegal, and nobody forced any of the contestants to participate in it.

It's tragic when a person's life comes to an end too soon, but the woman in question made a conscious decision to participate in a station contest. The on-air jocks even warned (or mocked) contestants of what holding your pee could lead to. Contestants were able to pull out of the race at anytime. The woman who died didn't even die at the station, but rather several hours later when she got home. She could have gone to see a doctor before or after the contest was held.

I think this type of contest should have never been carried out in the first place, but as we know other stations had already done it in the past, and nobody told KDND it couldn't go through with such an event.

What the radio industry, especially morning shows, are guilty of is having a "seat of my pants" attitude. Morning shows overthink the small stuff as far as morning show prep goes, but they underthink the dangerous stuff. They could have had the contests monitored and checked in the days prior to the contest. Yet b/c this type of contest was already tried out in other markets with no tragic ending KDND probably assumed nothing wrong would actually happen.

 

[hammerpants]

And KWOD never killed anyone...

Sorry, but we did try!

 

[RadeoEngineer]

I hope Entercom appeals this decision. I really don't think it was the company and the station's fault. I think if anyone should cough up the money it's the FCC. They're supposed to regulate the radio industry when it's out of line. They could have threatened KDND with some fines once they'd found out they were to hold such a contest. But they didn't and you want to know why? As we all know 107.9 The end wasn't the first station to conduct this type of contest. What they did wasn't illegal, and nobody forced any of the contestants to participate in it.

Wow. There's so much to address here. First, if I was David Field I'd have already authorized the check. Entercom got off pretty lightly in my view. Second, how is the FCC to know what a station is doing on the spur of the moment?
There's no form for "contest construction." How would the FCC even be involved in something like this? They have no regulatory authority over contesting until well after the fact. Third, no one is ever forced to compete in a station promotion, but that doesn't relieve the station of basic, sensible responsibility for the welfare of the participants. What if the contest was to see who could land a 747 and walk away for a chance at a million bucks? The station provides and the contestants sign a waiver to hold harmless, but it doesn't excuse the station of responsibility, especially when it can easily be shown there was negligence on the part of the station to perform the due diligence which would easily show the average person would likely die trying to land a 747 without the proper training and knowledge. There was no due diligence performed in this case.

It's tragic when a person's life comes to an end too soon, but the woman in question made a conscious decision to participate in a station contest. The on-air jocks even warned (or mocked) contestants of what holding your pee could lead to. Contestants were able to pull out of the race at anytime. The woman who died didn't even die at the station, but rather several hours later when she got home. She could have gone to see a doctor before or after the contest was held.

You'd make a hell of a bad lawyer. You state outright that the jocks warned of potential threat to life from participation during the contest (nowhere has it been shown that this advice or acknowledgement occurred before the contest began) , yet you still expect that Ms. Strange should have performed this function of due diligence for them both in advance and after the fact. You support that with stating she didn't die on premises as if that's some excuse for what occurred. If she had died on Entercom premises, would that have made them more guilty, the same guilty, or less guilty? Here's the question for you. Do you think she knew about water intoxication and planned to compete to the death for a video game? Do you think the people that designed and promoted the game should have known about water intoxication? Do you think there was a necessity for whoever came up with the promotion to research potential hazards of doing same?

I think this type of contest should have never been carried out in the first place, but as we know other stations had already done it in the past, and nobody told KDND it couldn't go through with such an event.

This is as close as you've come to getting something right. You messed it up when you put a comma after "place" instead of a period, and then continued to run on with the ridiculous concept that someone should have told Entercom in advance what or what not to do. Maybe Mr./Ms. Entercom could have put a bottle of water under his/her pillow the night before and the water intoxication fairy could have appeared and said don't do this, or you'll hurt someone, get sued, and lose.

What the radio industry, especially morning shows, are guilty of is having a "seat of my pants" attitude. Morning shows overthink the small stuff as far as morning show prep goes, but they underthink the dangerous stuff. They could have had the contests monitored and checked in the days prior to the contest. Yet b/c this type of contest was already tried out in other markets with no tragic ending KDND probably assumed nothing wrong would actually happen.

So now you actually agree this was dangerous, despite blaming Ms. Strange for her own death multiple times in multiple ways. You've also just made the Plaintiff's closing argument. They could have had the contests monitored and checked in the days prior to the contest.

You know what they say about "assume." I believe the jury just confirmed it, and it unfortunately and wrongly cost the life of Ms. Strange.

 

[CHRles]

I think 16 million dollars is a hell of a lot of money to pay. We're not talking about a murder here, we're talking about an accidental death.
It seems to me like KDND is a fallguy for zany station contests, and Entercom? The jury just wants to "stick it to the man". The jury involves people who are no law experts, just 12 ordinary citizens who might have a grudge against corporate America.
We need to stop with all the greed, all these cases where people sue Mcdonalds for brewing its coffee too hot, or suing doctors for everything under the sun. People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions. Maybe then our insurance premiums wouldn't be so high (where was this lady's personal life insurance by the way?)
The woman who died was married, correct? Well, I sympathize with her family for their loss, but maybe her husband or relatives, who know her much better than the folks at Entercom, could have foreseen what might have happened and tried to stop her from entering the contest.

I think a more fair outcome is Entercom apologizing on-air and to the grieving family, and shelling out, at best, several hundered thousands of dollars for this tragedy.

 

[AnimatronicAbeLincoln]

In the aircheck, didn't one of them wonder that since your body is, like, 98 percent water anyway, you then couldn't just drink as much of it as you wanted? And, didn't one of the others at that point say, "I don't know?"

Gosh, if only there was some magical machine where we could type in questions and find out answers and information instantaneously, like google or something.

 

[RadeoEngineer]

I think 16 million dollars is a hell of a lot of money to pay. We're not talking about a murder here, we're talking about an accidental death.

It isn't exactly accidental when there is known precidence for an activity causing death. Somebody didn't bother to do their homework. That's called negligence.

It seems to me like KDND is a fallguy for zany station contests, and Entercom? The jury just wants to "stick it to the man". The jury involves people who are no law experts, just 12 ordinary citizens who might have a grudge against corporate America.

Yeah man. Zany. Zany enough to cause the death of a young mother. By the way, the jury system is how we do judgements in this country. This jury spent a lot of time and effort on a very difficult case, but in your opinion they should be blamed for careful deliberations that result in an award for wrongful death. I bet a few of them actually work for a corporation and understand corporate responsibility.

We need to stop with all the greed, all these cases where people sue Mcdonalds for brewing its coffee too hot, or suing doctors for everything under the sun. People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions.

Are you a licensed ditto head? Why shouldn't Entercom take responsibility for its actions by your way of thinking? Because its not an individual, just a zany radio station operation?

Maybe then our insurance premiums wouldn't be so high (where was this lady's personal life insurance by the way?)

Good God. Do you have any kind of empathy for her children and husband? Do you have life insurance that covers water intoxication during stupid radio stunts?

The woman who died was married, correct? Well, I sympathize with her family for their loss, but maybe her husband or relatives, who know her much better than the folks at Entercom, could have foreseen what might have happened and tried to stop her from entering the contest.

Here we go with the clairvoyance again. Is there someone in your world that stops you from doing dangerous things five minutes before you do them?

I think a more fair outcome is Entercom apologizing on-air and to the grieving family, and shelling out, at best, several hundered thousands of dollars for this tragedy.

You have no clue about how much damage was done to the survivors of Ms. Strange.

 

[RadeoEngineer]

In the aircheck, didn't one of them wonder that since your body is, like, 98 percent water anyway, you then couldn't just drink as much of it as you wanted? And, didn't one of the others at that point say, "I don't know?"

Gosh, if only there was some magical machine where we could type in questions and find out answers and information instantaneously, like google or something.

Actually, it's pretty easy.

http://www.sacbee.com/995/story/1293545.html

 

[AnimatronicAbeLincoln]

It is easy, indeed!

Except, they couldn't have googled for that particular item at that time because it hadn't happened yet.

One better- That morning, they could have googled something like, "can drinking too much water be fatal," and instantly discovered a treasure trove of information that would have precluded that particular news item from ever having existed, because then the incident wouldn't have happened at all.

Me and my use of sarcasm on the internet. I have just got to stop doing that. Oh, but it's so fun when people get it.

 

[Madmansam]

Maybe this will push them to sell 106.5 back to someone who can program a real alternative format.

Or 107.9 LOL!

 

[RadeoEngineer]

It is easy, indeed!

Except, they couldn't have googled for that particular item at that time because it hadn't happened yet.

One better- That morning, they could have googled something like, "can drinking too much water be fatal," and instantly discovered a treasure trove of information that would have precluded that particular news item from ever having existed, because then the incident wouldn't have happened at all.

Me and my use of sarcasm on the internet. I have just got to stop doing that. Oh, but it's so fun when people get it.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Bongwater]

Now that KDND has the distinction of publicly being connected to the death of somone (and now found liable), what will this mean for the station itself?

 

[Element9]

Watching this from back east. Negligence. Wrongful death. Flat out stupidity.

Two very good friends are attorneys and each sees this case in a different light. Both respect the jury sytem. I'm not an attorney, but have served on a jury for a murder trial. The jurors came from different political, economic, racial, geographic and ethnic backgrounds. When we were charged with returning a verdict, I am proud to say we acted as deliberative, responsible citizens, who took our responsibilty seriously. Nobody was out to "get somebody" on our jury panel.

In this case, Entercom should write a check, establish a trust fund for the family and move on. I don't know the statutes of California law and how they apply to cases such as this. It would not surprise me if Entercom considers an appeal but forgoes it in order to minimize expenses and further negative publicity. All the money in the world won't bring back the woman's life, but it may ease the burden of her family who must live life without her.

Most importantly, other broadcasters should take note and learn from this costly, tragic mistake.

 

[CHRles]

Hopefully it won't bring about any changes to the format at KDND - it's a great sounding CHR.

I can also tell you that as someone who at times has a weak bladder I would never participate in such an event.

I don't think the station felt the need to research the effects of too much water in your system b/c, as I'd mentioned earlier, there was precedent to these kinds of contests - other shows, including the nationally syndicated Howard Stern show, have held these kinds of contests before.

This case was all about the money, imo. It was never about fixing the problem at hand. It wasn't about what radio as an industry should stay away from, but rather about squeezing as much money out of a radio operation as possible.
Instead of trying to create awareness to certain dangers we just hear about a crazy sum of money being "awarded" to somebody.

Well hey, while you're at, if you know someone whose dying of cancer maybe you should sue your local supermarket for selling tobacco and processed food. Those things can lead to your death.

And where are all these conservatives who immediately jump on the phone and call the FCC whenever they hear a curseword on a station, or someone bringing up religion? Those people are somehow always around listening to every station yet they didn't bother to inform the FCC about this contest being held. That kind of leads one to believe there was overall concensus that what KDND did wasn't illegal, and was not even frowned upon by the masses.

The jury is supposed to represent the people, the masses, you and me, and their outcome definitely doesn't represent me in this matter. Personally I would have preferred the sentencing to be carried out by a judge.

Lastly, my family has seen its fair share of tragedies yet we didn't sue anybody.

 

[CHRles]

It looks like I've touched a nerve. I'm debating this issue, as I have a right to do so.
Appearantly several of you have a "my way or the highway" mentality that leads you to resort to personal attacks if someone sees things differently from you. I'm amused by the way some of you who claim to care for others have no problem attacking those who don't have the same train of thought as you.

Bottom line is this: Just b/c I feel for the family's loss doesn't mean I should feel they should be overly compensated for this tragedy. More money doesn't translate into more empathy in the eyes of this Masters-degreed graduate. There are several big-picture underlying themes in this case that I wanted to shed some light on.

That is all.

 

[kinetic]

I hope Entercom appeals this decision. I really don't think it was the company and the station's fault. I think if anyone should cough up the money it's the FCC. They're supposed to regulate the radio industry when it's out of line. They could have threatened KDND with some fines once they'd found out they were to hold such a contest. But they didn't and you want to know why? As we all know 107.9 The end wasn't the first station to conduct this type of contest. What they did wasn't illegal, and nobody forced any of the contestants to participate in it.

It's tragic when a person's life comes to an end too soon, but the woman in question made a conscious decision to participate in a station contest. The on-air jocks even warned (or mocked) contestants of what holding your pee could lead to. Contestants were able to pull out of the race at anytime. The woman who died didn't even die at the station, but rather several hours later when she got home. She could have gone to see a doctor before or after the contest was held.

I think this type of contest should have never been carried out in the first place, but as we know other stations had already done it in the past, and nobody told KDND it couldn't go through with such an event.

What the radio industry, especially morning shows, are guilty of is having a "seat of my pants" attitude. Morning shows overthink the small stuff as far as morning show prep goes, but they underthink the dangerous stuff. They could have had the contests monitored and checked in the days prior to the contest. Yet b/c this type of contest was already tried out in other markets with no tragic ending KDND probably assumed nothing wrong would actually happen.

How do you say on the one hand the contest should never have been carried out in the first place and then blame the woman for participating in it?
The air talent was told that people could die from water intoxification. In an effort at being entertaining, they dismissed such warnings from callers the very morning of the contest by saying, "Well, they signed waivers so we're not responsible." Listen, if someone calls and says a person can die from a contest you're doing, the first words out of your mouth should be "how." "How can they die?" At that point, if you don't stop the contest, that presents a problem in a court of law, and these guys didn't even ask the question, suggesting that they weren't interested in the possibility of a death, let alone the inevitability of it happening.
They controlled the scenario here. I'm guessing the jury found it hard to believe that any of those contestants would have participated in the stunt if they knew it could have resulted in their death. Are you saying the contestants would've taken that risk? If you can prove that in court, then you have a case against Jennifer Strange. I really don't know how much you can blame her for what happened, and remember, she didn't start feeling bad until near the end of the contest.
People do dumb things all the time; the question here is who is liable when we give people an opportunity to be stupid. I don't know if there's a good answer to that question, but in the case of this particular trial, the jury came up with one. Is it worth $16 million? Seems a lot more equitable than the $34-44 million the attorneys sought.