Comments on The Sole Morality: Unstoppable force, meet immovable object

Jeremy: To my knowledge there is no federal Good S...

2009-02-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

Jeremy: To my knowledge there is no federal Good Samaritan law, so there is nothing on that level with which she can respond. I suppose she could always appeal to the next level of court, but I am not a lawyer so I am not sure how that would work, what the possibilities are, and what the likelihood of a reversal would be.

Peter: It is nice to hear someone with some legal education reaffirm the unlikelihood of such legal aspects mixing. While I am a firm believer that one should help another in need, it is probably better that such affirmative duty to rescue laws are rare in our litigious society unless the tort immunity laws can be crafted more carefully and realistically.

Thanks to both of you for your comments.

This sort of discussion is common fare in first-ye...

2009-02-23T08:40:00.000-08:00

This sort of discussion is common fare in first-year law school courses. You aren't likely to see a cross-pollination of Good Samaritan laws between California and Vermont because the two jurisdictions have taken diverging approaches. And remember that most other states are somewhere in the middle. This is one area in which the intuitive understandings of the average person may not come close to the legal requirements, which is usually a good sign of ineffective or transitional jurisprudence.

I love your footnote on the "rag doll" part. I me...

2009-02-23T05:16:00.000-08:00

I love your footnote on the "rag doll" part. I mean really an adult can pull a child out of a car like a rag doll, and the hulk can pull and adult out of a car like a rag doll, but an adult is just going to be dragging another adult out of the car.

Is there any federal statute she can appeal to?