Coyote v Acme

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n the United States District
Court, Southwestern District, Tempe, Arizona; Case No. B191294; Judge Joan
Kujava, Presiding
Wiley E. Coyote, Plaintiff
v.
Acme Company,
Defendant
pening Statement of Harold
Schoff, attorney for Mr. Coyote: My client, Mr. Wiley E. Coyote, a resident of
Arizona and contiguous states, does hereby bring suit for damages against the
Acme Company, manufacturer and retail distributor of assorted merchandise,
incorporated in Delaware and doing business in every state, district and
territory. Mr. Coyote seeks compensation for personal injuries, loss of
business income, and mental suffering caused as a direct result the actions
and/or gross negligence of said company, under Title 15 of the United States
Code, Chapter 47, section 2072, subsection (a), relating to product
liability.
Mr. Coyote states that on eighty five separate
occasions he has purchased of the Acme Company (hereinafter, "Defendant"),
through that company's mail order department, certain products which did cause
him bodily injury due to defects in manufacture or improper cautionary
labelling. Sales slips made out to Mr. Coyote as proof of purchase are at
present in the possession of the Court, marked Exhibit A. Such injuries
sustained by Mr. Coyote have temporarily restricted his ability to make a
living in his profession of predator. Mr. Coyote is self employed and thus not
eligible for Workmen's Compensation.
Mr. Coyote states that on December 13th he received of
Defendant via parcel post one Acme Rocket Sled. The intention of Mr. Coyote was
to use the Rocket Sled to aid him in pursuit of his prey. Upon receipt of the
Rocket Sled Mr. Coyote removed it from its wooden shipping crate and, sighting
his prey in the distance, activated the ignition. As Mr. Coyote gripped the
handlebars, the Rocket Sled accelerated with such sudden and precipitate force
as to stretch Mr. Coyote's forelimbs to a length of fifty feet. Subsequently,
the rest of Mr. Coyote's body shot forward with a violent jolt, causing severe
strain to his back and neck and placing him unexpectedly astride the Rocket
Sled. Disappearing over the horizon at such speed as to leave a diminishing jet
trail along his path, the Rocket Sled soon brought Mr. Coyote abreast of his
prey. At that moment the animal he was pursuing veered sharply to the right.
Mr. Coyote vigorously attempted to follow this maneuver but was unable to do
so, due to poorly designed steering and a faulty or nonexistent braking system.
Shortly thereafter, the unchecked progress of the Rocket Sled brought it and
Mr. Coyote into collision with the side of a mesa.
Paragraph One of the Report of Attending Physician
(Exhibit B), prepared by Dr. Ernest Grosscup, M.D., D.O., details the multiple
fractures, contusions and tissue damage suffered by Mr. Coyote as a result of
this collision. Repair of the injuries required a full bandage around the head
(excluding the ears), a neck brace, and full or partial casts on all four
legs.
Hampered by these injuries, Mr. Coyote was
nevertheless obliged to support himself. With this in mind, he purchased of
Defendant as an aid to mobility one pair of rocket skates. When he attempted to
use this product, however, he became involved in an accident remarkably similar
to that which occurred with the Rocket Sled. Again, Defendant sold over the
counter, without caveat, a product which attached powerful jet engines (in this
case, two) to inadequate vehicles, with little or no provision for passenger
safety. Encumbered by his heavy casts, Mr. Coyote lost control of the Rocket
Skates soon after strapping them on, and collided with a roadside billboard so
violently as to leave a hole in the shape of his full silhouette.
Mr. Coyote states that on occasions too numerous to
list in this document he has suffered mishaps with explosives purchased of the
Defendant: the Acme "Little Giant" Firecracker, the Acme Self Guided Aerial
Bomb, etc. (For a full listing see the Acme Mail Order Explosives Catalogue and
attached deposition, entered into evidence as Exhibit C.) Indeed, it is safe to
say that not once has an explosive purchased of Defendant by Mr. Coyote
performed in an expected manner. To cite just one example: At the expense of
much time and personal effort, Mr. Coyote constructed around the outer rim of a
butte a wooden trough beginning at the top of the butte and spiralling downward
around it to some few feet above a black X painted on the desert floor. The
trough was designed in such a way that a spherical explosive of the type sold
by Defendant would roll easily and swiftly down to the point of detonation
indicated by the X. Mr. Coyote placed a generous pile of birdseed directly on
the X, and then, carrying the spherical Acme Bomb (Catalogue #78832), climbed
to the top of the butte. Mr. Coyote's prey, seeing the bird seed, approached,
and Mr. Coyote proceeded to light the fuse. In an instant, the fuse burned down
to the stem, causing the bomb to detonate.
In addition to reducing all Mr. Coyote's careful
preparation to naught, the premature detonation of Defendant's product resulted
in the following disfigurements to Mr. Coyote: 1. Severe singeing of the hair
on the head, neck and muzzle. 2. Sooty discoloration. 3. Fracture of the left
ear at the stem, causing the ear to dangle in the aftershock with a creaking
noise. 4. Full or partial combustion of whiskers, producing kinking, frazzling,
and ashy disintegration. 5. Radical widening of the eyes, due to brow and lid
charring.
We come now to the Acme Spring Powered Shoes. The
remains of a pair of these purchased by Mr. Coyote on June 23rd are Plaintiff's
Exhibit D. Selected fragments have been shipped to the metallurgical
laboratories of the University of California at Santa Barbara for analysis, but
to date no explanation has been found for this product's sudden and extreme
malfunction. As advertised by Defendant, this product is simplicity itself: two
wood and metal sandals, each attached to milled steel springs of high tensile
strength and compressed into a tightly coiled position by a cocking device with
a lanyard release. Mr. Coyote believed that this product would enable him to
pounce upon his prey in the initial moments of the chase, when swift reflexes
are at a premium.
To increase the shoes' thrusting power still further,
Mr. Coyote affixed them by their bottoms to the side of a large boulder.
Adjacent to the boulder was a path which Mr. Coyote's prey was known to
frequent. Mr. Coyote put his hind feet in the wood and metal sandals and
crouched in readiness, his right forepaw holding firmly to the lanyard release.
Within a short time Mr. Coyote's prey did indeed appear on the path coming
toward him. Unsuspecting, the prey stopped near Mr. Coyote, well within range
of the springs at full extension. Mr. Coyote gauged the distance with care and
proceeded to pull the lanyard release.
At this point, Defendant's product should have thrust
Mr. Coyote forward and away from the boulder. Instead, for reasons yet unknown,
the Acme Spring Powered Shoes thrust the boulder away from Mr. Coyote. As the
intended prey looked on unharmed, Mr. Coyote hung suspended in air. Then the
twin springs recoiled, bringing Mr. Coyote to a violent feet-first collision
with the boulder, the full weight of his head and forequarters falling upon his
lower extremities.
The force of this impact then caused the springs to
rebound, whereupon Mr. Coyote was thrust skyward. A second recoil and collision
followed. The boulder, meanwhile, which was roughly ovoid in shape, had begun
to bounce down a hillside, the coiling and recoiling of the springs adding to
its velocity. At each bounce, Mr. Coyote came into contact with the boulder, or
the boulder came into contact with Mr. Coyote, or both came into contact with
the ground. As the grade was a long one, this process continued for some
time.
A sequence of collisions resulted in systemic physical
damage to Mr. Coyote, viz., flattening of the cranium, sideways displacement of
the tongue, reduction of length of legs and upper body, and compression of
vertebrae from base of tail to head. Repetition of blows along a vertical axis
produced a series of regular horizontal folds in Mr. Coyote's body tissues - a
rare and painful condition which caused Mr. Coyote to expand upward and
contract downward alternately as he walked, and to emit off key, accordionlike
wheezing with every step. The distracting and embarrassing nature of this
symptom has been a major impediment to Mr. Coyote's pursuit of a normal social
life.
As the Court is no doubt aware, Defendant has a
virtual monopoly of manufacture and sale of goods required by Mr. Coyote's
work. It is our contention that Defendant has used its market advantage to the
detriment of the consumer of such specialized products as itching powder, giant
kites, Burmese tiger traps, anvils, and two hundred foot long rubber bands.
Much as he has come to distrust Defendant's products, Mr. Coyote has no other
domestic source of supply to which to turn. One can only wonder what our
trading partners in Western Europe and Japan would make of such a situation,
where a giant company is allowed to victimize the consumer in the most reckless
and wrongful manner over and over again.
Mr. Coyote respectfully requests that the Court regard
these larger economic implications and assess punitive damages in the amount of
seventeen million dollars. In addition, Mr. Coyote seeks actual damages (missed
meals, medical expenses, days lost from professional occupation) of one million
dollars; general damages (mental suffering, injury to reputation) of twenty
million dollars; and attorney's fees of seven hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. Total damages: thirtyeight million seven hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. By awarding Mr. Coyote the full amount, this Court will censure
Defendant, its directors, officers, shareholders, successors, and assigns, in
the only language they understand, and reaffirm the right of the individual
predator to equal protection under the law.