Girl Claims Price Scanner Gave Her Tourette's Syndrome

Attorneys for Dominica Juliano claim that she was burned and developed psychological problems after a store clerk aimed a hand-held price scanner at her face. Store attorneys say their scanners uses a harmless LED light and that the girl had serious health problems before she was scanned. From the article: "Dominica Juliano was 12 when she and her grandmother entered the Country Fair store in Erie in June 2004. A clerk allegedly called the girl 'grumpy' before flashing his hand-held bar code scanner over her face and telling her to smile. Attorneys for Ms. Juliano and her guardian say the girl was sensitive to light and burned, and later developed post-traumatic stress and Tourette's syndrome."

Comments

Litigation Land

[muphin]

Welcome to the land of the "owe, i hurt myself, lets blame who's near my so i don't look like an idiot"
this is obviously a grab for cash, when genetic disorders like this cannot instantly be created from a flash of light, if she had a pre existing condition, light sensitivity, then i doubt she's gonna get that cash she so hope she would, poor girl is probably stuck in the middle of the greed from her parents.

Re:Litigation Land

[Anonymous Coward]

And don't forgot the old-school favorite, where a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.

If someone would believe that, why wouldn't they believe that a 1-milliwatt laser could burn them?

Re:Grumpy

[Fluffeh]

"You're grumpy" *beep* OOOh...Sick burn!

I am not *motherfucker*! *Cockbag*! Shit!

Oh my goodness, I don't ever recall speaking like that before. Must have been the scanner!

Maggie

[MrEricSir]

Maggie Simpson is going to have a terrible case of Tourette's after being scanned every week for the past ~20 years.

LED + WiFI

[thesaurus]

The article doesn't explain that it was the combination of LEDs and WiFi that causes this psychological problem. That or vaccines plus violent video games.

Re:Fire that Judge

[cupantae]

It's even more annoying, considering a judge threw out my case against my city's bus service. I was splashed in the face by a puddle in the bus station, where I was picking up some hookers. Next day: BAM. Herpes.

Re:Um yeah, ok easy enough

[binarylarry]

fuck you!

Re:Fire that Judge

[mysidia]

The Judge his doing his job as set out by the laws. It is not generally within a Judge's responsibilities to simply block or prevent a case going to trial just because some people might feel it is a waste of time in their opinion.

"I think the claims are ridiculous" is not a valid legal reason for denying the person of their right to seek justice under the law.

Basically, this Judge is doing his job properly, and any judge which would deny a case going to trial, simply because someone thinks its ridiculous, is not properly executing the role of a Judge...

The Judge's responsibility is to analyze the claims put forward, and the show of evidence, based on the law, not based on some political opinion of the "proper cases" to come before the courts.

Re:Fire that Judge

[GasparGMSwordsman]

So you suggest that a judge should throw out cases BEFORE hearing any evidence or examining the facts of the case. I question if you really understand the implications of that action. I also question your understanding of the law or history.

The judge did in fact throw out the case, AFTER the facts were examined.

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100414/NEWS02/304149909

Re:Um yeah, ok easy enough

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Oh and never mind that Tourettes is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder.

The laser was obviously set to stunt.

Re:Grumpy

[steeviant]

Cue the sound of CIA shredders destroying all evidence of project MKWALMART.

The judge threw the case out.

[regulan]

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100414/NEWS02/304149909

Re:From a neurological standpoint...

[Bazar]

Now if it happens, that the input signal is just right, it can e.g. raise the sensitivity of one neuron (or lower that of an inhibiting one), which then becomes able to trigger the swearing neurons for a lot of previously irrelevant input.

The signal in this case is just semi-random light. If that was enough for her to develop a problem, then she was a time-bomb waiting to go off.
If i was passing by, and i sneezed, and she "developed" her problem then, would I be libable for her problems.

Even if the scanner developed her problem (which i don't believe for even a second), i can't see how shes justified in persueing the store. Either learn to live with it, or seek help/aid via normal disabilitiy channels.