[eskeoto]

Didn't see this posted up, and thought you might like to read it.
http://campaign2012....ed-blind/263976

Quote

December 18, 2011 3:26pm
Paintball park sued by non-profit for the blind
by Barbara Hollingsworth, Local Opinion Editor

Lawyers representing a non-profit Maryland group are suing a White Marsh paintball park for not letting them play.

Why? Because they’re blind.

Paintball is a visual sport. But it’s doubtful that’s what lawyers for Blind Industries and Services of Maryland, a non-profit whose stated “purpose is to positively change people's attitudes about blindness,” were thinking when they filed the first-of-its-kind lawsuit against Route 40 Paintball Park in U.S. District Court.

The 11-year old park, which features four tournament-size fields, is owned by former “professional” paintballer Tom Maliszewski. Rules for patrons of the paintball park, which are posted one its website, states: “Blind shooting is not allowed. Look at what you are shooting.” With flying projectiles, this is only common sense.

This is an obvious reference to careless behavior by sighted players, but since it could equally apply to the sightless as well, making it difficult to prove that any blind would-be paintball players are victims of discrimination.

This is an obvious payday ploy intended to pressure Maliszewski, who had no comment, into some sort of financial settlement to avoid spending even more money on legal fees. But it may backfire on Blind Industries. This suit isn't goiing to change people's attitudes about blindness "positively." And in this Christmas season, it’s difficult to feel philanthropic toward people who will use the money to abuse the legal system this way, harming small business owners in the process.

Even if they are blind.

This post has been edited by CrazyLittle: 19 December 2011 - 11:39 PM
Reason for edit: Fixed formatting

[UV Halo]

Thanks for posting this up but, my god, look at your posts after you post them...

Here's a quote from the article from the Washington Examiner, (link):

Quote

Lawyers representing a non-profit Maryland group are suing a White Marsh paintball park for not letting them play.

Why? Because they’re blind....

I've been to that field (Route 40 Paintball)- The four Tournament-sized fields are the majority of the park.

I wonder if this stems from an insurance requirement which requires "no blind fire", and therefore the field interpretates it as "you can't play if you're blind" (in addition to the interpretation that most of us understand). I wonder if blind folks would be allowed to play if they went down to Warplay Paintball in Virgina which has a 'non-traditional' insurance plan by my guess since they allow full auto, blind fire, etc.

[Morgan-Crp]

lolwut.

[fortheloveofpaint]

its kind of all broken like all over the place

[JR007]

So glad I don't live in the USA. You guys can't take a sh*t without someone being offended and sueing!

[Vaellis]

Say what?

[misterkyle]

JR007, on 19 December 2011 - 05:23 PM, said:

So glad I don't live in the USA. You guys can't take a sh*t without someone being offended and sueing!

ik

[oldnewb]

misterkyle, on 19 December 2011 - 05:32 PM, said:

JR007, on 19 December 2011 - 05:23 PM, said:

So glad I don't live in the USA. You guys can't take a sh*t without someone being offended and sueing!

ik

I think he's implying that the US has a reputation for being litigation happy. Y'know... throw up a stupid lawsuit, and hope you get an out-of-court settlement just to pay you off to go away. Used to happen to celebrities and big corporations all the time. Justin Bieber is one good example... make up crap about a celeb that has no hope of getting through the court system, but will still cost the defendant a crap ton of money to fight in court. Defendant then decides to settle out of court for an amount that would be less than defending themselves in court.

Something needs to be done when the system is clogged with frivolous lawsuits.

Sad to say, Canada is not much better. It is a LITTLE better, but not because our system works better... just because Canadians are generally (but not always) nicer and more decent to one another (and there's a legal limit to what you can sue for).

[Panda_With_Guns]

I think Maliszewski should counter-sue after he wins in court to get back all the legal fees he has to pay for. I mean, come on. It's a safety issue. No ref is gonna wanna be out there for that. The blind players will be aiming by sound, so if the ref makes a noise he'll have a bunch of people shooting at him. I've been in a game where someone mask fell off from bumping into a bunker and the ref wasn't able to see it from his vantage point. And the dude was just standing there confused in the middle of crossfire, if some other player hadn't tackled him, he could've had a serious injury.

This post has been edited by Panda_With_Guns: 19 December 2011 - 08:23 PM

[NJC]

Panda_With_Guns, on 19 December 2011 - 08:16 PM, said:

I think Maliszewski should counter-sue after he wins in court to get back all the legal fees he has to pay for. I mean, come on. It's a safety issue. No ref is gonna voluntarily be out there with the high probably of being shot. They'll be aiming

refs always have the high probability of being shot.

[Panda_With_Guns]

Yea, I edited that right after I accidentally hit the post button.

[Molybdenum]

I love how the felt the need to put "professional" in quotes. I guess professional paintballers are less "professional".

[J_DUB]

wow that's crazy I don't know what to say

[CrazyLittle]

Fixed the formatting.

[MURPHofPBP]

Quote

December 18, 2011 3:26pm
Paintball park sued by non-profit for the blind
by Barbara Hollingsworth, Local Opinion Editor

"Blind shooting is not allowed. Look at what you are shooting."

hehe, im sry but thats just chuckle inducing in conjunction with this whole rediculous situation. what i want to know is if they just showed up or did they call ahead and ask about it.

[kiriyama9000]

This is unbelievable.
Out of the consideration of everyone's (players, bystanders, refs, and staff) safety, could it be any more obvious why the owner wouldn't let the group play?
I'm sure he meant no offense to anyone who is blind and was thinking in the group's best interests.


That field is about 15-20 mins from where I live.


BTW: Its funny it got brought up that the US is notorious for it's legal practices.
I used to own a Daihatsu Charade and getting parts in the US for it was hard.
I tried to buy parts from Camskill (a company in the UK), and they wouldn't because of and I quote "your country's litigious nature."

This post has been edited by kiriyama9000: 20 December 2011 - 01:52 PM

[Coastermaniac]

Suing is a national sport in the US.


They even have tv shows about it

[Distortion_UK]

There was a deaf group at a field I worked at and that sounded hard enough. Blind people playing just isn't safe.

[blckninja]

Distortion_UK, on 20 December 2011 - 12:54 PM, said:

There was a deaf group at a field I worked at and that sounded hard enough. Blind people playing just isn't safe.

At the field I go to there is a deaf guy who plays, but thats easy to overcome. Blindness, thats a safety hazard no matter how you look at it.

[tripp]

ived reffed numerous deaf or hearing impaired groups,
we grab about 4 refs for a group or 10 or higher just to be safe
use hand signals and blue/red tape wrapped toilet paper rolls(full rolls)
we simply toss the roll in front of them or at them(underhand of course) to let them know they are out

but a Blind group would be almost impossible