Wednesday, October 10, 2007

A Personal Injury Law Rorschach Test: Bonaduce v. "Fairplay"

How many lawsuits to you see where the entire incident is captured on film, in front of a studio audience? Former child star Danny Bonaduce has been sued by former Survivor contestant Jon "Johnny Fairplay" Dalton after he was dumped over the shoulder onto his face at an awards show.

The altercation happened last week at the FOX Reality Really Channel awards, which I oddly seem to have missed.

So, is it Dalton's fault for initially jumping on Bonaduce?

Or Bonaduce's fault for dumping Dalton over his shoulder?

Or is this a classic case of trying to apportion fault among both participants, and if so, what percent fault for each?

The clip you see here is less than a minute. You decide.


(Eric Turkewitz is a personal injury attorney in New York)

Labels: Personal Injury

posted by Eric Turkewitz  # Permanent Link

Comments:

I think if you decide to jump on Danny Bonaduce, it's akin to primary assumption of risk, like a sporting event. The same would probably be true for Chris Knight, to a lesser degree. Had he jumped on a non-violent reality t.v. star, it might be a different story, but here the risk of being toppled on his head was completely foreseeable.

# posted by  Scott J. Kreppein : October 10, 2007 1:52 PM

 

wow... was he gyrating while on danny? that could constitute sexual assault, in which case danny was simply defending himself.

anyway they should film the entire trial process as well. that would make for great t.v.

# posted by  Kia : October 10, 2007 6:16 PM

 

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