DVD-Sharing Device And Fair Use Questions

Man Sues Cable Company For Fat Wife And Lazy Kids

from the no,-seriously dept

Thu, Jan 8th 2004 9:52am — Mike Masnick

It reads like a parody, but, unfortunately it appears to be real. I'm still waiting to read that this is just a very early April Fool's joke, but this article (found at broadbandreports) says that a man in Wisconsin is suing Charter, his local cable company, for making his wife fat and his children lazy channel surfers. His argument is that he called to have the cable disconnected in 1999 - and Charter stopped charging him, but kept the cable service going. He claims that he and his whole family became addicted to the free cable, which has led to all sorts of problems: "I believe that the reason I smoke and drink every day and my wife is overweight is because we watched TV every day for the last four years." I'd say this one may beat out previous lawsuits for the perfect example of how people simply refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. Please, someone, tell me it's a joke.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

17 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

OldYeller, 8 Jan 2004 @ 10:46am

...and the puishment fits the crime?
Not a joke, I'm afraid. The real punchline is that the guy's proposed "remedy" for being turned into TV-watching couch potatoes is to be set up for life as web-browsing couch potatoes.

Not that this should ever reach a court, but in a perfect world the "remedy" would simply be disconnecting their cable and providing them each with a new set of walking shoes.

Of course, you could always send them a punitive message by hooking them up with Richard Simmons...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cigamit, 8 Jan 2004 @ 12:03pm

No Subject Given
So does the guy just not know that the TV has both a Power Button and a Power Cord? Both are effective in turning off the TV. And if that doesn't stop the situation, there is always the ability to unscrew, or heaven forbid, cut the cable line. But ofcourse, just from him filing this lawsuit, I can tell that he doesn't have enough intelligence to know about these complicated methods.

What is the world coming too?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
msykes, 8 Jan 2004 @ 2:59pm

Re: No Subject Given
Forget unplugging it, if this guy really cared about his family he would take an f-ing hammer to the TV. I think that we need a new law where if you file a lawsuit and it's found to be completely without merit like most of these new-wave american lawsuits are, you have to pay some fraction of the amount sought in the suit to some charity, or the government or someone.

msykes
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dan, 8 Jan 2004 @ 8:20pm

No Subject Given
I like the fact that he wants $5,000 or 3 computers with internet access for life. I'm sure that will make his family healthy if they can't turn off a TV.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
LittleW0lf, 8 Jan 2004 @ 9:08pm

People this stupid shouldn't be allowed to breed
This guy gets 4 years of free cable, and he threatens an employee of the cable company and demands $5000 or three computers and a life time supply of cable internet. The good thing is that there is a police report on his threats, so a judge can laugh him out of court.

I hope his lack of intelligence was a fluke in his family tree and that his kids drank far more from the IQ juice than he did.

If anything, the cable company should send him a bill for four years of free cable...sure, he won't pay for it, and no judge would force him to pay because it was their screw-up...but he obviously didn't complain to them about receiving cable for free over the past four years. If I didn't want the cable, I'd unplug it, and if I noticed that they still hadn't shut it off, I would tell them every week that it is still active.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hmm, 9 Jan 2004 @ 11:41am

Re: People this stupid shouldn't be allowed to bre
I think cable company can sue him. It's like someone leaves a wallet at your house, and you start using their credit cards and stuff. Assuming that the card owner does not notice the transactions - it's very similar to this case...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2004 @ 11:19pm

Techdirt
You know, you're providing Techdirt for free and I do nothing but sit around and read it all day instead of working or exercising. Techdirt must be the reason I'm fat and broke! It's... an attractive nuisance! Expect to hear from my lawyer in the morning.

[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sven, 12 Jan 2004 @ 9:30am

No Subject Given
I live by the fat ass that this is about, His wife was fat and ugly b-4 cable and the guy drinks so damn much cause he is a lazy fat-so himself
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tracey Stevens, 16 Jan 2004 @ 12:56pm

Free Cable for 4 years
I found this story intriguing because last year I called the cable company to shut off my cable because I was addicted to TV. Now I still have a TV but no rabbit ears or cable and my quality of life has improved immensely. However, a week after I had the cable company pick up the box, they called to offer me FREE CABLE for a YEAR. After I said no thanks, they sent a letter with the same offer. I think the cable companies are conspiring to control what's left of our minds. They don't care if we pay for it, as long as we watch plenty of commercials. People, if you want free cable, tell the cable company you want to shut it off because it's rotting your brain. They'll give it to you for free so you can get out there and buy a bunch of s**t you don't need.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mike, 28 Feb 2005 @ 3:49am

No Subject Given
this poor man is obviously a VICTIM. where is the government? we pay taxes so that the government will protect us. i think the fcc and cable company are both responsible. also tv manufacturers should be held liable for the damages caused by their products
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jim Kotsonis, 22 Mar 2006 @ 5:18pm

Fat and Lazy
Nope, no joke. The, very intelligent and straight faced, judge in charge of this waste of time lawsuit told the gentlemen in question that he and his family have nothing more to blame then themselves. In my opinion the lawyer of this case should be disbarred and publicly flogged. This is the kind of problems that our society on a whole is suffering from. We are amongst the fattest people in the world and all we do is blame others for it. Take a stand and get the heck out of your homes and play ball, walk, anything. Don’t blame others for your lack of self control.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rachel, 3 Jun 2006 @ 10:08am

This is stupid!
When will people take responsibility for their actions?! If he was so worried about having a fat wife and lazy kids, then why not offer to take them to the park for a walk. Or take them out for excersise and unplug the TV. It is not TV's problem that people get fat.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Torill, 23 Aug 2006 @ 7:22am

ONLY IN AMERICA!!!!
I'll say: ONLY IN AMERICA!!!!
Thank GOD that we don't waste time and money on stupid lawsuit like this in Europe.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Laleisha Jenkins, 6 Dec 2006 @ 9:18pm

Hell yeah
I know this bitch ain't talking I will whip her motherfuckung ass on this hoe.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Fatsuperman, 21 Nov 2007 @ 7:15pm

Community for People that Have Fat wives/husbands
There is a web based support site of sorts for people with fat spouses.

It isn't judgmental like most web sites where they accuse the thin spouse of being shallow, and you don't see the "dump the fat bi**ch rhetoric that is so common too. Real people with real fat spouses.

myfatspouse(dot)com

its not spam, the web site isn't selling anything so there is nothing to gain , I'm just trying to help people out
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Paul, 2 Apr 2008 @ 12:27am

What a fat Fuck. I hope he dies with from heart attack before a judge even gets the chance to laugh at him.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
isolader, 2 Apr 2013 @ 8:20pm

Re: Free Cable for 4 years
Your a moron!!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]