Court Awards $16.5 Million in Wii Death

http://media.bestofmicro.com/nintendo-wii,I-C-660-1.jpg

Court Awards $16.5 Million in Wii Death
By Marcus Yam, published on October 30, 2009

" Hold Your Wee for a Wii saga leads to $16.5 million award.

Wii fever was insane in the many months following the Nintendo console's launch in late 2006. Many scalpers were making a pretty penny from the demand, and media outlets were attracting much attention with contests that awarded free Wii consoles.

Sadly, Jennifer Strange, a mother of three, died in January 2007 when she took part in a radio contest called "Hold Your Wee for a Wii." The object of the contest was to see who could drink the most water without going to the bathroom. Strange died as a result of the contest from acute water intoxication.

A California jury has awarded the family $16.5 million and found Entercom Sacramento LLC liable for the actions, according to the AP. Following the death in 2007, the station fired 10 employees connected to the contest. "

:source: Source: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/hold-you...news-4997.html

That... is absolutely terrible :dabs:

My condolences to the family but honestly? How can the store be in anyway held responsible for this? I don't think it's quite common knowledge how close someone is to dying of water intoxication. The women should've known when to stop when she reached her limit. The store suffers and 10 innocent employees are now in unemployment due to something entirely out of their control. Great.

Obviously you are not a lawyer. They are completely liable and the verdict is 100% correct.

In the world of America, when all else fails, sue.

I remember this story when ti came out - pretty sad really, but ppl will do just about anything.