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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:05 PM
Original message
Woman blames storage company for 63-day ordeal locked in unit
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030926/APN/309260540&cachetime=5

When I read stories like this, I don't feel as depressed as I have been lately because hell, I have a house and I'm not locked up in it.

The photo in the paper (not accompanying the online story) shows the woman with extremely long fingernails (3-4 inches). Don't know how she made it.



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izzie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:18 PM
Response to Original message
1. That is one bad story. How can things like that happen?
Poor thing.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:24 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Three words.
This is Alabama. The worst part is that the company acts as though she wanted to stay locked up because she wasn't heard screaming to get out. I don't know what the stats are on this storage facility's traffic is, but I bet it is really low. People may visit it once a month or less.

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Voltaire99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:35 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. The company's reply
How predictable. 'We're the victims here.'

This woman's ordeal is astonishing - I hope she wins the suit.
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SingSong Donating Member (119 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:37 PM
Response to Original message
4. The really sad part is no one missed her
for over two months, I guess no one gave enough of a damn to question what had happened to her.
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Scimmio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 11:55 PM
Response to Reply #4
44. she's got David Blaine beat by a month...
.
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neuvocat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 04:56 PM
Response to Reply #44
57. In a twisted way you have a point.
eom
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:54 PM
Response to Original message
5. This story does not pass the smell test. Not even remotely.
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tlcandie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:57 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Seems to me that if a unit was unlocked .. that you would open the
door to look inside...peer quickly or whatever...before closing it and locking it? Ask if anyone is here? Common sense?

I don't know if she was or wasn't living in the unit, but even if she took a nap or fell asleep there while doing some work...is that wrong? Up to them to prove she was or wasn't living there. :shrug:
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LizW Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. She wants $10 million
Sorry, but it's up to her to prove negligence. It was late at night, and the guard didn't see light inside, so why would he think someone would be there?

Her circumstances are truly pitiful, and led to a ghastly ordeal, but I don't see her getting a huge award based on these facts.

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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 04:01 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Alabama is known for HUGE numbers in lawsuits.
Of course they are usually knocked down to smaller numbers by the courts.

As far as defending the guard on just this one article, I'd say you are not aware of how poor blacks are still treated in this state.

You are correct in assessing that she will probably not get a huge award.

In fact when it comes to blacks in Alabama, huge companies like Monsanto (now calling itself Solutia to avoid it's historical terrorism on poor people by polluting their neighborhoods for decades) are given many years with their many lawyers to fight their negligence in the courts. Altho recently the folks of Anniston won their case...it took 30 years and a lot of people have died or have cancer now.

While this particular situation is not a corporate one, don't be so sure that there is not a racist component to the case.




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LizW Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 04:33 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. You're implying that the guard did this on purpose
because the woman was poor and black, and I don't see anything in this article that supports that. Maybe you've heard more about this case than I have. I'm just saying I don't see anything here to warrant $10 million. For all we know, the guard is poor and black, too.

Yes, the treatment of poor blacks by polluting companies is deplorable, but it doesn't have anything to do with this case.

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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 05:43 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. I don't see anything either.
However, there is a vast history of this kind of shit in this state. As recently as last year...many cases.

So, why do folks always consider the victims "gold diggers" in a state where they are always losers?

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LizW Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 08:58 PM
Response to Reply #17
41. No one is saying this woman is not a victim.
Obviously, she was locked in the unit and did almost starve. However, she is saying it was the storage company's fault and they should give her $10 million.

I feel terribly sorry for her, but I don't think she's entitled to collect that much money from the company based on what the guard did.

Plus, I think she's probably lying about not living in the unit. And the reason she's lying is because Alabama is a contributory negligence state. If she did something that contributed to her own injury (like sleeping in a storage unit that locked from the outside), then she can't recover from anyone else for her injuries.

I saw a teaser that said this story is going to be on local news tonight. I hope the publicity gets her some help.

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Guaranteed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-30-03 10:58 AM
Response to Reply #6
64. She might have been hiding n/t
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Guaranteed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-30-03 10:59 AM
Response to Reply #6
65. Whoops please delete
Edited on Tue Sep-30-03 11:00 AM by BullGooseLoony
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 02:59 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. I guess you know what it is like to be in dire poverty in the south.
Because this is not totally uncommon for people in dire needs of housing to live in storage facilities. In fact in one of the largest cities in Alabama, Birmingham, just recently a man was covered in the paper for renting storage sheds to folks to live in. Yes, the sheds you see at Home Depot. He set them up on his land and added a toilet/sink/electricity...then rented them to a lot of po folks.

Some storage facilities down here are located in extremely rural areas where no one uses them for months. I know because I have used one for a boat in the summer, and in the fall, they are empty.

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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 04:11 PM
Response to Reply #7
12. No, but I do know suspicious looking set-ups and fraud cases
Of which this has all the hallmarks.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 05:30 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. What are the hallmarks?
Edited on Sat Sep-27-03 05:33 PM by Ripley
Please tell me how this is a set-up?

On edit: poor, black, Alabamaian. This is not the "set-up" by rich, white, NYers.

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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:20 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. Well let's just see here.....
Creditors foreclosed on her home, and she claims she wasn't living in the storage area.

She had enough food and liquids to survive there for as long as she did.

She was originally locked in at night.

Nobody heard any cries for help until just now (indicating that the food and liquids were running out).

Was she reported missing?

Surely her car would have been at the storage area, if she had one.

If not fishy in the sense of fraud, then there is pretty clear indications of mental instability.

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topdog08 Donating Member (235 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:34 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. You think she would risk DYING in hopes of SUING????????????
Take a step back and think about what you are saying. Why would anyone sit in a room with their own waste and risk dying in there, on purpose, just in hopes of suing? I seriously doubt that after losing her home she would share your incredible faith in a positive verdict.
What next, she waited until she had gotten to "advanced starvation" on purpose, so that it would be more convincing to the jury? She could have brought the same suit after only being locked up a week.
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:42 PM
Response to Reply #20
24. You read too much into it.
Take a step back and think about what you are saying.

Yet the questions I posed remain unanswered.

This has the hallmarks of fraud. Is it fraud? I have no idea, but I can see a lot of peculiar holes in the story as it's been told so far.

I used to be an investigator of sorts, and the information so far leaves more unanswered questions than answered ones.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. So Hallmarks are:
(of cases where poor people try to sue some unsuspecting business)

*she was evicted for lack of payment
*she ate canned food
*she was not awake at night
*she yelled but not when people were there, how would she know time?
*reported missing by whom? Some people live ALONE.
*No car.
*Mental instability does not equate fraud as you have presented it.

You seem to think poor victims are easy prey...you must be a raptor.
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:43 PM
Response to Reply #21
26. Yes, those are some.
You seem to think poor victims are easy prey...you must be a raptor.

I suggested the possibility of fraud, I didn't chip it into a stone tablet.

You refuse to consider all options...you must be a crusader.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:48 PM
Response to Reply #26
27. No crusader here.
I'll open my mind to your fraud arena.

Why? She had no family, no friends, no body but a lawyer.

Oh Oh Oh the lawyer...............gettin' rich.

Attack the lawyer...why they must all be liberals!!
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:54 PM
Response to Reply #27
28. What?
Attack the lawyer...why they must all be liberals!!

I have no idea, although they frequent like non-sequitors like the one above.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:10 PM
Response to Reply #28
31. Have you ever seen folks in shotgun houses?
Maybe you are unaware of poverty in America.

You seem to be unaware of life in the South for the very poor. In the last 2 weeks there have been about 5000 jobs lost. And it is bad. I can't even believe that Huntsville, AL is losing jobs....

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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:12 PM
Response to Reply #31
33. I've seen poor people all over the world, including in the south
This doesn't, however, lead me to any particular conclusion, one way or the other, as to the validity of these claims.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:20 PM
Response to Reply #33
35. Your smell test STINKS!
You choose to denigrate a person who has been a victim.

That is not right.
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:21 PM
Response to Reply #35
36. I choose not to call her a 'victim' until all the facts are present
You choose otherwise.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:36 PM
Response to Reply #36
37. When is a victim allowed to be called one?
85 pounds is very small.
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 12:58 PM
Response to Reply #37
50. When it's been determined that she is one.
Duh.
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Minstrel Boy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-30-03 08:29 PM
Response to Reply #50
68. Kudos on living up to your name
From the story:

Gloria Turner, a former nurse with Providence Hospital, testified Thursday that when Hudson was brought into the emergency room she weighed 85 pounds.

"The first indication I had that something was going on was the smell," Turner told jurors. "She was asking God why he allowed this to happen to her. She was crying almost constantly. ... She was crying, praying, talking, she would go to sleep, wake up, it was a continual process."

Dr. William Asher, testifying for Hudson, said he studied Hudson's case after her time in the hospital.

Her condition when discovered in the unit, Asher said, was of "advanced starvation, unusual to find in medical circumstances in America today."

...

This sounds to me like pretty good evidence of acute physical and mental suffering.
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PennyLane Donating Member (240 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 05:14 AM
Response to Reply #18
47. I concur.
It reeks of fraud......no pun intended. Human nature would find a way
out, or a way to make more noise. And the food and drink are sure signs of a caper.
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neuvocat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 04:59 PM
Response to Reply #18
58. Let's see here...
she weighed 85 pounds and the nurse who was there testified how she kept crying and wondered how God could do something like that to her.

Yeah, its a classic case of fraud alright.
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kysrsoze Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #58
60. Oh, bullshit
How do you survive for 63 days w/o food and water? If she had that much food and water, how did it get in a storage space? How much urine and feces were in the place? I don't believe this at all.
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w4rma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-30-03 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #18
66. Hudson, 44, "weighed 85 pounds" … "advanced starvation"
Edited on Tue Sep-30-03 11:45 AM by w4rma

Hudson testified that wasn't because she didn't yell out. She claimed that more than one person heard her screams but did not respond.

"I screamed, I banged, I banged, I banged," she said.

Gloria Turner, a former nurse with Providence Hospital, testified Thursday that when Hudson was brought into the emergency room she weighed 85 pounds.

"The first indication I had that something was going on was the smell," Turner told jurors. "She was asking God why he allowed this to happen to her. She was crying almost constantly. ... She was crying, praying, talking, she would go to sleep, wake up, it was a continual process."

Dr. William Asher, testifying for Hudson, said he studied Hudson's case after her time in the hospital.

Her condition when discovered in the unit, Asher said, was of "advanced starvation, unusual to find in medical circumstances in America today."
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topdog08 Donating Member (235 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #12
22. Is advanced starvation one of your hallmarks?
I think you need to go back and read the article.
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sendero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:08 PM
Response to Reply #12
29. yeah...
.. I'm sure she starved herself near to death to take a deep-pockets mini storage company to the cleaners. You are a laugh riot.
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:11 PM
Response to Reply #29
32. I'm sure you think you're sure.
A mini-storage company, all of them, have insurance companies, Einstein.

Keep up the brilliant work.
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sendero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 07:17 PM
Response to Reply #32
52. yes...
Edited on Sun Sep-28-03 07:19 PM by deseo
... and they all carry policies commensurate with the type of activity they are engaged in. Well it is a good thing she didn't wait another day or two to "collect", she might have died.
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ikojo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 09:40 AM
Response to Reply #7
48. Using storage facilities for shelter happens in NYC as well
There was an article in the New York Times Magazine a few years ago about people who use storage facilities in NYC. Seems rent is so high that many people have taken to setting up shop in storage facilities.

MAGAZINE DESK| March 7, 1999, Sunday
THE HUMAN HABITAT: Cramming in New York City; What Makes People Stuff Their Most Treasured Possessions Into a Storage Locker?
By Sara Ivry (NYT) 626 words
Late Edition - Final , Section 6 , Page 58 , Column 1
ABSTRACT- Several New Yorkers explain why and how they have put some treasured possessions into storage lockers; photos (M)

If I remember there was a pic of someone standing in their facility and it looked set up as an apartment.

The article is available for purchase or perhaps someone with access to lexis-nexis could find it for free.








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montana_hazeleyes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 05:01 PM
Response to Reply #5
14. No matter what
This poor woman has been through hell and I hope she gets the care she needs for the rest of her life.
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LivingInTheBubble Donating Member (360 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 05:36 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. Its the stuff of nightmares. :(
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topdog08 Donating Member (235 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:26 PM
Response to Reply #5
19. Doesn't pass the smell test? The medical facts all back her story!
The owners are either arrogant or stupid to play hardball here. They could be looking at a manslaughter charge if she had died in there. They should just be saying it was an accident and go that route.

Although you say it "does not pass the smell test," please read the section below (the fact that she smelled like she had been relieving herself in a closed area for several months seems to have been noticeable). The thing I'm wondering about is if the light was on or off? Was there even a light? If she was asleep does that remove the owners from any culpability? I doubt it. Regardless, this is a terrible way to die. It's exactly what Edgar Allen Poe describes in
The Cask of Amontillado Read that, then tell me how you feel about it:


Gloria Turner, a former nurse with Providence Hospital, testified Thursday that when Hudson was brought into the emergency room she weighed 85 pounds.

"The first indication I had that something was going on was the smell," Turner told jurors. "She was asking God why he allowed this to happen to her. She was crying almost constantly. ... She was crying, praying, talking, she would go to sleep, wake up, it was a continual process."

Dr. William Asher, testifying for Hudson, said he studied Hudson's case after her time in the hospital.

Her condition when discovered in the unit, Asher said, was of "advanced starvation, unusual to find in medical circumstances in America today."
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Character Assassin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:38 PM
Response to Reply #19
23. Yes, I can read, thanks.
The medical facts all back her story!

No, the medical facts back up that she was in a state of starvation, not how or why she got there and stayed for so long.

The owners are either arrogant or stupid to play hardball here. They could be looking at a manslaughter charge if she had died in there. They should just be saying it was an accident and go that route.


Oh, should they? I think far more facts need to come about before anyone 'should' do anything.

Although you say it "does not pass the smell test," please read the section below (the fact that she smelled like she had been relieving herself in a closed area for several months seems to have been noticeable).


And no one noticed this until, what, two months? That seems highly unlikely.

The thing I'm wondering about is if the light was on or off? Was there even a light? If she was asleep does that remove the owners from any culpability? I doubt it. Regardless, this is a terrible way to die. It's exactly what Edgar Allen Poe describes in
The Cask of Amontillado Read that, then tell me how you feel about it:


Read it in ninth grade, thanks.
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neuvocat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 05:02 PM
Response to Reply #23
59. Aha, so you are a liscensed physician.
You apparently have enough medical background to contradict a registered nurse, based on what you've read in a single article. I'm so impressed.
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Cocoa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
8. one thing for sure
the tax cuts for the rich aren't helping this woman. Or maybe they just haven't kicked in yet.
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greyl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 03:48 PM
Response to Original message
10. Has David Blain heard about this?
Maybe someone should clue him in - he'll have to extend his stay. :)
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ElsewheresDaughter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 11:50 PM
Response to Reply #10
43. greyl...you made me laugh...thanks
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snippy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 06:43 PM
Response to Original message
25. The story does not describe the behavior alleged to be negligent.
However, I would find the act of locking an unlocked storage unit without checking to see if anyone was inside to be negligent. I would have trouble finding the failure to discover someone inside in the following 63 days to be negligent, but with compelling enough evidence it might be possible. As to damages, I think $10 million is excessive unless she alleged and proved deliberate conduct by the defendant. However, it would be very unusual for a plaintiff's attorney in a negligence case not to ask for damages substantially in excess of what he or she thought a jury would award.
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7th_Sephiroth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:09 PM
Response to Original message
30. i live really close to where this happened
and i think this woman s Bullshitting everyone.
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:14 PM
Response to Reply #30
34. Yeah? Give us the details.
Why would you think that she is b.s.ing when she was admitted into a hospital for starvation...she weighed 85 lbs.

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juajen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 08:59 PM
Response to Reply #34
42. While I have a lot of sympathy for this poor woman,
Edited on Sat Sep-27-03 09:02 PM by juajen
It is undeniable that she had to feel pretty desperate after being evicted from her home. It's quite possible she was living in the storage room; however, it's also possible she was not. That said, living in the storage room should not have resulted in being locked in without air, light, etc. This is horrible. Discovery in this case should answer a lot of obvious questions, such as, who moved her things into the storage room? Can the person who aided her, especially if she did not have a vehicle, testify to what her approximate weight was then? If it is a scam, it would be quite easy to pull off.

For instance, if she only weighed 95 to 100 lbs. to begin with, her weight loss would not be that drastic. Excrement is easily applied after the fact. An accomplice would have been necessary to let her in and out of the storage room, using an extra key or even her own key. If this is what happened, other people were involved. This involvement makes it much easier to ferret out the truth. In addition to the above stated, if all of her things were in the storage room, seems to me she could have found some clean things to wear in the room. Of course, if it was dark, with no flashlight or anything, this could be problematic. Also, I do find it hard to believe that she didn't die of heat exhaustion. It gets very hot in Alabama, especially in a closed room. I'm assuming since they are more expensive, that this was not a climate-controlled room. What was the weather like during this time? All sorts of unanswered questions.

That said, if she was locked in, imo, she deserves to be compensated for having to live through a terrible nightmare. Psychologically speaking, she has to be a wreck. Losing your home is bad enough, and if she was unemployed, this adds to the desperation.

On edit: I forgot this happened in November. Weather should have been bearable then.
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monobrau Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:55 PM
Response to Reply #30
39. I'm with you
You would think that nobody here has heard of "cat ladies" or peoples houses that are found to be full of garbage, human waste and starving children.
The starving part isn't bullshit, but I think her story is.
I think she is a desperate, damaged individual and I hope she can get some help getting back on her feet. But I doubt she's in line for the lawsuit lotto.
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karlschneider Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:55 PM
Response to Reply #30
40. She just "happened" to have moved in food & drink for an extended stay.
Anybody locked in one of these things who -wanted- out could manage to attract attention. There's more to this than what we've seen so far.
:eyes:
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karlschneider Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-27-03 07:50 PM
Response to Original message
38. I don't EVEN believe this crap.
:grr:
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Piperay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 03:29 AM
Response to Original message
45. I have a storage unit and
it is a very busy place with people coming and going all the time. I have also seen some people that I suspect are living there. One man I had a brief conversation with said that he was "just about living out of his storage unit", actually I believe he was totally living out of it. It isn't legal to live in a storage unit so people of course don't want to let on that that is what they are doing. I can't see that anyone would be storing canned foods and liquids in an expensive storage unit if they weren't planning on consuming the stuff while there. Also she must have had can openers etc. there to open the stuff with. I think that she was a poor desperate person who may have no where else to go but I am also cynical of people who bring large lawsuits against anything or anyone they feel has "deep pockets". Perhaps she was inadvertly locked in but if she was living there that is going to be a contributing factor. Whether someone is poor or not you need to look deeper, skepticism can be a healthy thing to have in the World we live in.
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R Hickey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 04:52 AM
Response to Reply #45
46. How much liquid was stored in the unit?
Who would store a two months supply of liquid in a storage locker if they were not living in it?

Where was her car and how did she get there?

Could she have been living out of her locker for the first six weeks, and then gotten locked in for a shorter time?

Some things don't add up, while others here do.

Some of the facts may have been altered by her lawyer, to make the legal case stronger, while much of the story may be completely true.
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undergroundpanther Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #46
49. Housing
I got a novel idea.

Everyone needs a place to exist.
What if every person was guarunteed a home a place to exist whether they had money or not? What if we just got rid of loiter laws,who do they benifiet but the rich and the consumer class.
It is hard on homeless people and I am sick of middle class assholes assuming they are all degenerates or sub-human.They forget with the right circumstances they could be on the street too.THis culture does not care for it's own.It cares for it's rich the rest of us either serve them or die.
Some homeless people are veterans who can't psychologically heal who were used like throwaway people by the rich or the state .Some are mentally ill-not dangerous,just made crazy by thge demands of our sick competitive,greed adoring culture.Some people that are homeless don't want to be caught in the work-ratrace-stress-consume trap like the majority of people are because they can't cope with it.Some homeless people have had very hard lives and can't afford to heal from it. Some are born poor.Some just choose it.Some are victims of crimes,predatory landlords,creditors ect.Some are addicts,some have abuse histories.
There are billions of reasons why a person becomes homeless.

Rich people own like 95 perccent of the land in America,and they don't even live on it all.

Rich people have big huge houses and don't share space with anyone .


What if the rich were shamed into sharing?

Why should people who inherit billions be seen as desrving?
they will never be forced to live in a storage unit.

Landlords what a joke!
None of us asked to be here and who upon my birth made this one sided deal that I would have to work most of my life away,pay some rich asshole a huge chunk of what I make just to have a place to exist in a world I never chose to be born into? I didn't have any say in this crap society does.. I just inherited a mess from my retarded forebearers.I never had the choice whether I wanted to participate in this self-destructive- planet killing,inhuman consume-competitive culture I disagree with so much.


Who was it that decided it was ok for people to eat a little mercury with thier tuna fish? The polluting companies just dumped and dumped on what they assumed to own until uh oh,it went beyond thier arbritary barriersThen they can't hide it so they tell consumers limit your fish intake. WTF? When do these property lines dissapear for you?
Poor people rely on cheap food let 'em eat tuna and die.But the rich don't care,they got thiers and everyone else thinks it's thiers too.What A joke! And the middle class are so scared of being poor they run up debt and live on fantasy and sell thier souls for dreams of better life at someone elses expense.They want thiers and they want everyone else to say it's thiers too.

Sad that not enough people never bothered to look at this Tunafish issue until it's too late,because of"property" no one thought mercury and fish didn't see it like humans do.I mean murcury is poison it goes where it goes and does not respect human arbruitrary boundaries and who "owns" what..DUH. Why do we let someone else do what they want with what we all need.Namely a place to exist ,air to breathe ,food to eat..? Who owns the tuna in the sea? The chemical companies? Tuna fisheries? Who ever has it in thier belly,for now?
or all of us? Or none of us?

So who owns the land?

Who decided by thier own consious will that we all wanted to live in these ugly monoculture suburbs? Who's idea was it to build these suburbs? Why are so many cities and towns built around owning automobiles?
Wasen't the suburban way of life marketed to us in the 50's as desireable? Wasen't living in the suburbs equated with safety,whiteness,wealth and status? In reality the suburbs provides none of these things.It brings traffic jams ,lonely people and sprawling ugliness,bigotry and roadkill.

Who decided we wanted to have living our homes controlled by landlords? was it..the Landlords? We were taught to accept this way of life though history, with all the colonizers,kings lording over thier booty of human lives and land.Landlords are still 'lords'. The majority of humans in history lived life together without landlords. It is only when we accepted the idea of a'civilized' state and accepted the lie elites were more deserving than we of space to exist in ,that landlords looked 'natural' to us in our unnatural way of life.

Who was it that invented lawns? What forces in our culture made them so popular now? What are lawns good for really? When no one 's kids play on them because they are sitting in air conditioned living rooms eating chips playing vidieo games?How many people like sitting in a treeless patch of grass? Who has the time to sit in a treeless patch of grass anymore? Lawns are devoid of the variety that is life. No animals except maybe grubs,can live there.Lawns are product of the landlord mindset that drives our market.Nature tries to reclaim lawns as weeds grow ,the deer eat the rhododendrons..What convinced us to us fight against nature with our precious free time? what told us we could ever own nature?
Ever stop to think of all the labor,pesticides,chemicals and pollution it requires for each home to maintain this crazy green rectangle imposed on nature?

Who sold us that load of bunk so long ago that it was'proper'to waste our precious life-time with lawn maintenence? Why do we waste time with lawns when we are running oursevlves ragged already with school work and kids and are to axious and depressed scared and insecure to stop? Why keep up with the mythical joneses is it because we don't know what we want with our own lives anymore,we give 'em away, we let the market pick our destiny for us, because we are taught as kids to be so insecure,looking to authorities for answers, and compliant with what they say.Maintaining a home is alot of work after you have worked to pay for the space.Why do we work so hard and never have the time to savor the fruits of our work,deferring ourselves until we are so old..for what?
We could die tommorrow.And we wouldn't ever know who we are,and our kids and lovers wouldn't know us either.


Who here is dumb enough to think a landlord of a big apartment complex really cares about thier tenets lives and well being beyond getting that rent check on time ,or fending off a complaint that might dent profits,or fending off problems that could get the landlord in trouble with the housing authority?
What do you think landlords care more about people or thier property,or profit?
What about this culture has made human beings so callous tword each other's well being and life? Is it the market? The Profit motive? Rampant Competition against each other ? What the fuck is the market but a belief system imposed by a few 'elites' to upon how we share to reguate it..why is it here? And what gives this mythic monster and it's blind bumbling dangerous adherents the right to tell me how to live,what to eat,how to dress,what to do with my own life,how much I am valued by my fellow human beings,and what to do my time? Why should I care what any self-serving wealthy person looking to make a buck off my misery, insecurity,ignorance confusion and my unquestioned obedience thinks about my safety or my well being? Fuck'em all.

The marketplace and it's mindgames has foisted itself and it's profit driven demands upon every aspect of our lives.It dominates us .It isn't even alive.So it needs no sanity or compassion.The needs of human beings are not the same needs as the market's needs.That is why we have problems like people living in storage places.
And people need shelter to live.A company is not a person it needs no shelter,respect or rights.People need these things.Companies are paper monsters people invented to control each other.They are not real.The market doesen't care about people's lives other than what wealth or labor or soldiering it can extract from them. Working so hard at making A perfect patch of green.. It's all illusion for the grubs live there under the surface.. And why do we complain when there are reality holes in this collective marketplace of monocultured delusion? Holes like people whob are treated like worms who are forced to live in storage buildings or die homeless on the street.
Why are homless people called parasites while the wealthy and the paper phantom companies are not ?
The homeless are forced to live life in the mad manicured delusion of our culture just to exist like grubs. No one asks why the lawn exists and is the way it is..The homeless are sprayed with a pesticides of hate,self serving"good intentions" ,cops saying move along,and misunderstanding.They are forced to not exist..And they are treated like unwanted grubs by the lawn maintenence people(middle class/wealthy) who just blindly carry on with orders from above and fears from within..


The cruelty we show to our own kin in the name of profit is sick..


No one owns land anymore than someone can own the air.But we pretend we can own everything we can grab.Until there is nowhere to exist.We all need a place to exist and we all need to take control of our lives and decide how we want to live,each one of us,market and profit be damned.There is no sane reason a human being should pay a person for space to live on our earth. We need to re-learn how to share the wealth we have with each other to be free of exploiters of human misery.
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snippy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 06:50 PM
Response to Reply #46
51. I do not see how living in a storage unit is relevant to the question of
whether the company was negligent for locking her inside. Whether anyone lived inside or not, locking a unit without checking inside seems negligent to me. If instead of it being the woman inside, what if it been some kids, or a thief, or the woman's dog?
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gauguin57 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-28-03 08:15 PM
Response to Reply #51
53. this story feeds my paranoid nightmares ...
and explains why I ALWAYS have my cell phone in my pocket when I go into my storage area. And I mean ALWAYS. But I do think it's plausible that she was living in there ... in my storage building, you could easily hear someone yelling for help through the wall.
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Piperay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 05:28 AM
Response to Reply #53
54. The doors are metal pull-down
on the storage unit I have and most I have seen. It seems like it would really make awhole lot of noise if you pounded on it and rattled it. I go to my unit about once a month probably so do most people but there are hundreds of units there so someone is ALWAYS coming or going. Storage facilities also have managers that cruise around to make sure no unit is being broken into and close circuit cameras too. I don't think it would be possible where my unit is that anyone could ever be locked in for more than a few minutes or an hour at most unless it was at closing time but you would be able to be rescued as soon as the place opened for business the next day.
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LeftHander Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 07:38 AM
Response to Original message
55. Storage Unit and part time job at Wal-Mart = Bush recovery
eom
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lostnfound Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
56. Just think: What if 'Pain & suffering' are worth $250,000?
That's the maximum for pain & suffering in medical malpractice suits under new laws in some states (like Texas and Florida); and it's only a matter of time before the vague language gets applied to other types of suits.

Evidently no "economic damages".

Who knows the truth in this case--could be fraud or could be terrible negligence or something in between. My bet would be she was living in it, got locked in, low-traffic area so no one heard her. It's for a jury to decide.
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davidinalameda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-29-03 06:22 PM
Response to Original message
61. something is fishy here
I don't quite buy her story

no one heard her for 2 months?

I think she was living in the unit and she had the misfortune to get locked in
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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-30-03 10:26 AM
Response to Original message
62. Update: Tues am on Alabama Public Radio.
Edited on Tue Sep-30-03 10:27 AM by Ripley
I heard that the woman was awarded $100,000.00

I guess this means the company admitted to some fault. And yes, she is a victim, whether she was living there illegally or not. As someone noted in a post above, one does not have to be living in the storage unit in order to be locked in it.

I don't have any details since it was just a brief mention on APR.
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Selwynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-30-03 10:50 AM
Response to Reply #62
63. I agree
I really find the issue of whether she was living in the unit or not to be irrelevant. One wrong does not make the other wrong acceptable. That's like saying well we shouldn't prosecute a person for raping a woman sleeping on a park bench because she was vioating the cities law on sleeping in the park! No, you hand down the penalties for sleeping in the park to the lady (not that I think that's good) AND you hand down the penalties for a viloent crime to the rapist.

In this case, if she was indeed living in the storage unit illegally then you hand out fair pentalties for any misdemenor laws broken, and at the same time you investiage and take seriously concerns of negligence and liability that led to this horrible ordeal - horrible for any woman, not just woman some feel are "more deserving of sympathy." You ought to take the investigation into negligence just as seriously for a poor, isloated woman of questionalbe circumstances as you do a rich successful white man who is a pillar of the community. That's my vision of egalitarian justice.

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Ripley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-30-03 06:30 PM
Response to Reply #63
67. The jury has spoken. But the haters will continue...
It amazes me that DU has so many people who automatically attack the victim first. Especially those who know nothing about the contemporary as well as historical discriminations perpetrated upon poor people in the deep south.

Enjoyed your post Selwynn. Welcome to DU!

Your vision of egalitarian justice should not be a dream, it should be reality in America. Funny, it seems to be going in the wrong direction.



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