Ought to have known

A teenager hit pay dirt when he successfully sued the host family for $800,000 over the fall he sustained during a sleepover when he was 10 years old.

Apparently Cameron Brock Thomas suffered "immediate and significant" changes in his behaviour following the fall, could no longer stand noise, was impulsive and unpredictable and later became depressed and suicidal.

What the . . . .

Hello-o! I don't know about you but doesn't that describe all of us who have once been a teenager in our sad life time?

In his (mis)judgement, Justice David Kirby thought the host family "ought to have known that there was the risk of harm from the absence of a ladder and guardrail (from the top bunk bed)." Don't you just love the "ought to know" thingie. Just like this sordid case.

What can I say? I am no judge (nor will I ever be one, given I am not stupid enough) but I thought the host family should counter-sue Brock's parents for allowing their son to have a sleepover without warning them the child was (and most likely still) an idiotic troublemaker.

Good bloody grief.