cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3320637

YouTube and Reddit are sued for allegedly enabling the racist mass shooting in Buffalo that left 10 dead::The complementary lawsuits claim that the massacre in 2022 was made possible by tech giants, a local gun shop, and the gunman’s parents.

  • Zengen@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I mean lookingbat the details for the basis of the suit. They think they can sue someone for teaching a criminal how to do something. They think they can sue the makers of body armor for selling a guy who was not a criminal at the time of purchase, an unregulated commercial product. They think they can sue YouTube for providing motive for whatever he did.

    In the law world theres a word for this. Its called a shakedown. This is grieving family’s who are vindictive. They dont care who pays, but somebody has to pay in their eyes. Sadly on the merits this case will die in court pretty fast and nobody is gonna see a dollar unless alphabet and spez’s lawyers decide they are feeling charitable. Which they won’t because settling would cause implications of guilt in the public eye.

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      This is grieving family’s who are vindictive.

      I’d blame it on the lawyers.

      They dont care who pays, but somebody has to pay in their eyes. Sadly on the merits this case will die in court pretty fast and nobody is gonna see a dollar

      The family’s lawyer is getting paid either way.

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah some families are vindictive but ALL lawyers are ready to press a case like this as long as they think they can win.

        • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          If they think they can win it’s another matter, what I think is happening here is the lawyer is pushing for the case regardless, because they get paid regardless.

          • scarabic@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I’m not sure that’s true. Families don’t always have deep pockets. The lawyer is paid a % of the settlement, which is probably more money than the family could just pay out of pocket. But it does mean they need to win, so they pick their cases. I mean if you pay them well in cash they’ll likely take any case. But a lot of personal injury cases and such are paid on a percentage.

            • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              The lawyer is paid a % of the settlement

              Not necessarily, if that was the case I would expect it to be very likely they would win - a lawyer isn’t going to take a case on contingency if they don’t think they will win. More likely the family have a little bit of money saved up and the lawyer is taking advantage of them in their emotional state by encouraging them into a frivilous lawsuit.

              • scarabic@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                It’s a sliding scale built on risk and reward.

                They will take the case if they think they can win OR when they only have a chance of winning but the settlement is going to be large.

                25% chance of a $10 million settlement with a big corporation: take the case.

                90% chance of multi hundred thousand dollar insurance payout: take the case.

                Probably they also consider the amount of work. For all we know, both of the above could be just 10-20 hours of work.

    • Joe Cool@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, they should also sue the ISP, the power company, the company who built the criminal’s house and the people who paved the road he used. /s

      Oh not wait they are suing ISPs for zeroes and ones that flow through their cables. Strange world we live in. No one would have sued the postal service for a letter they got, or their telco for a call they received before the www.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      sadly… this case will die in court

      Only part I disagree with. It’s a very good thing that this case dies in court. It really does suck for the families, sure, but if these kinds of lawsuits worked it would cause a whole lot more problems than it solves.

      • Blu@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        They literally explained why it was a shakedown. I don’t know what else needs to be said.

        The parents of the victims are suing organizations that have no chance of being held liable in the hopes that they get some form of payout. That’s what a shakedown is.

        It’s tragic and I get their anger, but this isn’t going to succeed. Any legal team worth its retainer fee will successfully defend this.

        • violetraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 year ago

          There’s no blackmail or extortion of money, it’s a litigation suit on companies to be held liable. That’s not defined as a shakedown.

          • Blu@sopuli.xyz
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            1 year ago

            The term “shakedown” has been used to describe frivolous lawsuits seeking to strong-arm settlements from defendants for decades. Language is descriptive, not prescriptive.

            • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I don’t think that ordinary non-billionaire humans suing Google is strong-arming by any sense of the imagination. Google has the deep pockets and the top legal team. Google could invent lawsuits about whatever the fuck it wanted to and destroy each and every one of these people until the end of time. PR is the only reason they don’t. Not fear of court imposed sanctions—they’re too slick for that.