Saturday, November 12, 2005

File Under: WTF?

Customer glued to toilet seat sues Home Depot
Man claims workers ignored cries for help after he was victimized by prank

The Associated Press Updated: 12:06 p.m. ET Nov. 3, 2005

BOULDER, Colo. - Home Depot was sued by a shopper who claims he got stuck to a restroom toilet seat because a prankster had smeared it with glue.

Bob Dougherty, 57, accused employees of ignoring his cries for help for about 15 minutes because they thought he was kidding.

“They left me there, going through all that stress,” Dougherty told The (Boulder) Daily Camera. “They just let me rot.”

The lawsuit, filed Friday, said Dougherty was recovering from heart bypass surgery and thought he was having a heart attack when he got stuck at the Louisville store on the day before Halloween 2003. A store employee who heard him calling for help informed the head clerk by radio, but the head clerk “believed it to be a hoax,” the lawsuit said.

Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said she could not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit said store officials called for an ambulance after about 15 minutes. Paramedics unbolted the toilet seat, and as they wheeled the “frightened and humiliated” Dougherty out of the store, he passed out.

The lawsuit said the toilet seat separated from his skin, leaving abrasions.

“This is not Home Depot’s fault,” he said. “But I am blaming them for letting me hang in there and just ignoring me.”

I normally try not to post two articles in a row, but this is too good to pass up.  It seems I remember seeing something like this on "AllyMcBeal" or "The Practice" or some other legal-themed TV show.  The judge was hardcore, and ruled his courtroom with an iron gavel.  He would always recess the court at the same time every day for fifteen minutes so he could go to the bathroom to smoke a cigarette while he "concentrated."  This guy was a terrible, unfair judge, and one of the lawyers decided to get even with him.  The judge always went to the same bathroom stall at the same time every day, so the lawyer decided to put glue on the toilet seat so the judge would get stuck to the toilet seat when he went to conduct his business.  Sure enough, in the middle of the trial, the judge went to the bathroom and he got stuck to the toilet seat. 

You'd think you'd see something like this happen on an old episode of "I Love Lucy" but not in real life.  I did some research, and I found out that this guy is suing Home Depot for over $3 million for pain and suffering.  I could see Home Depot paying the hospital bill to get the toilet seat removed from the guy's ass, but not $3 million.  I smell a shiester.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Okay....if I had to be taken out of the Home Depot bathroom, through the store and out the front door in a sitting position, with my pants off AND A TOILET SEAT STUCK TO MY A$$, I'd probably be suing someone too.  Too bad that someone can't be the PATs who applied the glue in the first place.

And I just know I'd see someone I know on the way out.  "Oh, hey!  How are you?  I'm just here shopping for some light fixtures....OH MY GOSH!  Is that a toilet seat stuck to your a$$?!?"

Let this be a lesson...apply some toilet paper strips to the seat or one of those nice little paper Sani Seat things before you sit on a nasty public toilet!!