OAP sues Apple for $1m after walking into store's glass door An octogenarian is to take Apple to court after a visit to one of the computer company's glass-fronted stores put her nose out of joint - literally. The 83-year-old New Yorker walked slap bang into one of stores' see-through doors and broke her nose, she claims. Now, Evelyn Paswall, 83, has asked for $75,000 (£47,000) in …
"I'm tired of the entitlement attitude in this country. I hope she gets beaten in court like a red-headed stepchild."
Surely it's likely this woman had to pay for her nose being fixed, via her savings? Health insurance is very expensive and hard to come by if you're in your 80s, surely? And surely the most egregious sense of entitlement in the US is that displayed by a healthcare industry which charges insane fees for any work whatever?
I realise, part of those fees, represent the need to recoup the costs of paying out for lawsuits against practitioners - but surely the greater part is those practitioners' excessive profit? In any event, surely we should apply the same principle to this woman: in attempting to recoup her medical fees she is simply seeking from Apple precisely that which their negligence directly cost her. Begrudge her that - as you seem to do - and I say you're a goddamn heel.
Exactly how was Apple negligent to the tune of a million dollars? Its a fragging door - you need to open them.
I don't believe the woman had any serious injury. Ambulance chaser got his corrupt buddies to make some crap up after watching a certain episode of the Simpsons too many times.
She's 83 FFS cut her some slack jack.
Maybe her eyesight isn't up to Apple's 'Retina' standard.
Perhaps Apple might just consider designing an environment for normal everday folk of all ages, not just trendy young Barrista's in black polo necks with more money than sense.
I am sure a glass door can be present a random difficulty in a day's series of events.
“The defendant was negligent... in allowing a clear, see-through glass wall and/or door to exist without proper warning,"
I hope Apple Designers have thought of all the proper warnings for functionality that is sure to exist in things Apple sells and that can expose your privates.
Similar thing happened to me in Zurich at a popular brand trendy coffee place - I was 22! They had a normal door that had existed for some time which I was accustomed to using, and had decided to install automatic opening glass doors.
I was walking ahead talking to friends with my head turned to the side at just the wrong moment, reached out to grab the existing inner door, and turned my head towards it - bang - slammed right in to the glass panel - shattered my front tooth. Stepped back in shock and the motion detector kicked in and the panel slid open.
Head of *bucks called me the next day, details passed onto insurance company and tooth replaced that week. No lawsuit needed, but I can sympathize with an 83 year old. I don't know how much a broken nose costs to fix - remember there's no such thing as a NHS in the US, so it's bound to be more expensive.
>bound to be more expensive.
No, not a million dollars expensive!
Just more litigation culture, I do wonder whether there is absolutely ANY level of purposefulness gone into this, what with the money Apple is making every second of every day, plus a glass frontage identified by some to be of litigious potential.
And quite how would an old granny manage to shatter a glass frontage so effectively, made probably of toughened glass - assuming the pic is real.
I wonder whether a trip to the security room to watch some footage of the event might be in order - Maybe, just maybe, a 2x4 was used just prior to the 'event' and the granny's nose was already broken? Magicians tricks a possibility.
Just a thought.
That's pretty much the dictionary definition of not looking where you're going and not paying attention to what you're doing. Combined with your implicit assumption that the world is static and fixed and nothing anywhere ever changes (and just how did you get into the place without noticing the new door layout in the first place anyway?), I make it 100% your fault. Very generous of them to pay for your dental surgery.
FYI the door layout didn't change, they just stuck a large glass sliding panel directly in front of it, which took them less than a day (marvelously efficient, the Swiss), but perhaps my original post did not make this clear enough.
But thanks for explaining to me the world is not static and that things are constantly moving and changing... how have I survived all these years travelling from country to country without noticing that I don't know. By sheer luck or grace?
OTOH You must be a real fun person to hang out with on long walks - do you ask everyone not to talk until you reach the destination so that you can focus on making sure no new obstacles have crossed your path since the last time you took that route?
Also worthwhile mentioning, the motion detector signal was very badly timed, in that you had to wait a second for it to open, which was not fixed even after my accident (yes, I still went there for coffee).
>"do you ask everyone not to talk until you reach the destination so that you can focus on making sure no new obstacles have crossed your path since the last time you took that route?"
Not being Gerald Ford, I can talk and look where I'm going at the same time. Since I don't talk or listen with my eyes, I'm able to point them in the direction I'm going, rather than the direction I'm talking or listening to. You on the other hand were walking one way and looking another. If you'd been out in the street you'd have walked smack into a lamp-post and still be blaming it rather than yourself.
Agreeing with the first comment this nan would've had to be running towards the apple store at full speed, double that of a nan her age, whilst not looking where she was running to. As if, in her old age she surely would have a tiny bit of 'wisdom' like look where you're going, or suing a huge multibillion dollar company with a flimsy story like that is stupid.
@Bush_rat: "As if, in her old age she surely would have a tiny bit of 'wisdom' like look where you're going"
I've actually seen this kind of accident happen right in front of me, and it wasn't an elderly person either. Although she was walking at an apparently normal pace, the sound of the impact was frighteningly loud and she knocked herself out (I had to catch her). I can only assume she wasn't fully concentrating, and the glass was insufficiently labelled to alert her to the threat.
This happens more than you might think when you have too much clear glass. I think it's a basic human weakness - our minds often rely on certain queues to bring problems to our attentions, e.g. motorists (and even pedestrians) often don't see cyclists because their mind doesn't register an object that small on the road. Building regulations now often stipulate the minimum requirements for markings to glass doors for this reason.
Did she take a running jump at it?! I can't see anyway that walking at a normal speed into a glass door, presumably made from toughened security glass, would cause that kind of bullseye affect.
Yet another case of the blame culture, in this case blaming a company with $97Bn in the bank, probably hoping that they'll pay up to make the problem go away.
Likely explanation: the Reg posted a bullsh1t picture.
Take a look at the store front and think to yourself if clear, unmarked glass might be hard for an 83 year old to see.
Anyone that's used the hockey-puck mouse knows that Apple are well capable of choosing form over function...
I would have expected Apple to use a higher-contrast colour than white, considering how much white features in the rest of the design of their stores. But that said most people wouldn't have tried to sue Apple for being stupid enough to walk into a door. And as others have pointed out - if that photo is of the damage caused by the woman, was she trying to break in when it was closed or something?!
Elderly bones can be rather fragile. The septum (which I assume got broken) is not very strong to begin with. It is the only bone I have broken, and I can tell you it is pretty painful. Having it set is not fun either.
I really do not know what happened, so I will not jump to conclusions.
Again, "design" over utility. Glass doors that you can't see because they "look" nice. Anyone else remember having to drag the CD icon to the Wastebin icon in order to eject a CD? And there being NO other way of doing so should the computer fail?
Glass panels can easily be totally invisible, and if they were in the shop window, I'd say tough. It should have been obvious that they were there even if you couldn't see them. But if they were in the doorways, that's just another You've Been Framed conservatory-door waiting to happen. Sometimes you just CANNOT see them and if you don't expect them to be there, you can do damage.
That said, warning stickers already present and breaking your nose? Sorry. I don't buy it. They either had the warning stickers or didn't, and you either accidentally walked into it or you ran full-pelt into the damn thing. Worst I imagine happening would be a bruised ego and maybe a nosebleed if you're particularly sensitive to them, and if you're 83 I doubt that a turn of speed was entirely sensible and maybe your eyesight IS already failing.
In the school I work in, we had to put stickers at eye-height on things that were clear-glass, even if they were in a 3-foot-wide frame and quite clearly a door. I'm not sure if that was H&S-mongery or whether there's actually something about it in the law.
But, honestly, why do you WANT whole-glass fronts? The Apple shops are bare enough of product as it is without advertising the fact. And if you do have thousands of *THE* most expensive product out there, it might be an idea to use something unbreakable too, rather than a 20-foot-long pane of glass.
"Anyone else remember having to drag the CD icon to the Wastebin icon in order to eject a CD? And there being NO other way of doing so should the computer fail?"
Er, no. Apple's optical drives had small holes you could poke a (straightened) safety pin—or something of similar size and shape—through to open a stuck drive. You may not have noticed, but the exact same holes could be found on PC optical drives too as a backup for the usual eject buttons. Optical drives are an unusual example of a "soft-eject" design on a standard PC component.
Whenever possible, Apple will always opt for a software eject mechanism for all external storage media, including floppy disks, so that the user is never, ever, faced with a "WTF? I was WRITING to that medium, you idiot! PUT IT BACK!" -type error message. You know: the same message you get when your parent yanks out a USB flash drive or memory card without first 'ejecting' it in the OS first. This is, incidentally, why the iPhone and iPad are unlikely to ever include support for removable storage like SD Cards: a motorised software-controlled SD Card ejection mechanism would simply take up too much space.
*
As for the case of "83-year-old chancer Vs. Glass door": this store has been on that site for some years now. It's also in New York, a city in a nation not known for its excellent, clear, street design, let alone shop fronts. (Seriously: I've been to a couple of US cities and both looked like they were vomited out of a planning office on a Friday afternoon. You couldn't have made San Francisco look visually messier if you tried.)
Apple are hardly the only company to have ever used all-glass frontages. This is not "design over function". Applying force to a glass door will open it, just like any other door. If the door fails to move, you're supposed to stop pushing. Not simply hurl your entire body at it. Most people these days know how doors work. Especially 83-year-old people who must have visited many, many shops in their lifetimes.
Here in Italy, at the Apple Store in Rome's RomaEst shopping centre, not only is the frontage all glass, but there aren't even any stickers or notices on them. They're still not that hard to spot. Even the clearest, glare-free-est of glass frontages has some reflections that will give you the visual cues you need. And there's also the small matter of the gaps between each pane. Both elements are clearly visible even in your linked photograph.
Ergo, the woman was either an imbecile, or she is blind / vision-impaired. Neither is Apple's problem. I have lousy eyesight, but that just means I have to spend money on glasses. What I don't get to do is demand the world bows to my (minor) disability: I'm in a minority here. It's my responsibility to ensure I am capable of interfacing with the real world. It is not the rest of the world's responsibility to ensure it is capable of interfacing with me. That way, only madness lies.
Bi - Before iPhone - or mobiles for that matter, a friend of mine did similar damage accidentally walking into a glass door in Debenhams in Ipswich. It shattered spectecularly in two places caused by his head and knee.
He fell down and staff rushed to his assistance - he escaped serious injury but felt like a bit of a dick.
He didn't sue, he was just happy they didn't come after him for a new door.
Ouch - that gotta hurt - but feeling like a right dick is worse.
And that is the correct response for walking to a glass door; shame, embarrassment and hopefully with enough remaining mobility to run away just in case your asked to pay for damages.
This whole case is backwards, surely Apple should be suing her to try and reclaim (literal) damages. After all, arty installations are expensive, right?
Windows User - because they're a pain in the glass.
... its taken this long for something like this to happen, I hate Glass! its the bane of my life!
For those with low vision, its not easy to see this transparent materiel ;)
I can not tell you how many glass doors, display cabinets and tables I have walked into because I couldn't see them, but have to admit non have ever broken or caused me more than than a bruise or slight embarrassment :)
I think that shows the different between the UK and US, if this happened in the UK there would be no payout and everyone would be happy there was no serious injuries, however in the US.... Sue city!
But then, if it stops retail outlets using unmarked glass doors, then all good.
Not everybody has 20/20 vision!
I have poor vision: both strong astigmatism and myopia.
I have never walked into a glass door, window, or anything else. There are these things called "glasses". You might want to try some. They're awfully good. (I still stub my toe against low furniture on occasion as I need different glasses for close vision and distance vision and don't usually wear the latter pair indoors. Even so, it's pretty easy to remember where stuff is and avoid hitting it again next time.)
If your vision is so badly impaired that not even glasses can help you function in the outside world, I suggest you invest in a white cane and / or a guide dog. Either that, or find a better optician.
Hum, shows how little you (and most others unfortunately) know about eye sight problems doesn't it!? I hear this all the time, "oh way don't you wear glasses", like oh why didn't I think of that! its because, if the brain can not receive a good signal because the eyes (not just the lens, which is the only thing Glasses correct, btw), is damaged then there is bugger all that can be done!
I have Complex Microphthalmos, Coloboma, Nystagmus, Glaucoma as well as loosing most of the retina from my right eye, as well as having my lens removed and the eye filled with oil to keep what's left of my retina back, thanks to it detaching a few years ago, how much difference do you think Glasses are really going to make! You Idiot!
In Germany you often see silhouettes of hawks stuck on glass windows to stop other birds flying into windows. Obviously what you need here is a silhouette of something that will repel the poor lady. Answers on a postcard please ...
PS. Just to clarify, we don't superglue real hawks to the windows, only black plastic shapes.
Please let me be the first to notice that the name of the lady who walked into the glass was "Paswall".....
Anyway, I've done this myself at a hostel when some asshat closed a glass patio door behind me when I want to the loo. There were no stickers on it and it was very clean so obscured almost no light and thus I walked directly into it on my return.
I got a great laugh out of it and some bent specs but had it broken I'd have been suing the hostel.
Not for $1m of course, the amount she's claiming is insane.
Typical american ambulance chaser type. Glass doors are in use throughout the world, because they look good, and give prospective customers a clearer view of the inside of the store, helping to draw them in.
They also almost universally have a handle of some sort on them (IIRC, apple's have the standard metal bar across the front), so you can push/pull the door without smudging the glass, so they're not invisible. One would think that the handle floating in mid-air would be a tipoff, even to those with poor vision - unless of course they're not looking where they're going.
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