Cheruiyot Seeks Compensation After Chicago Fall

[EPelle]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlene ... RUIYOT.xml

"Discussions have been going on because I would like them to pay me some money as compensation ... I always have headaches following that fall," Cheruiyot told Reuters.

[Law dude]

Somewhere (probably in Chicago), some law dude is smiling.

[George P.]

Heh. :lol: I only wonder why it's taken so long.

[MJD]

I guess that's why he ducked the issue when they interviewed him before Boston.

[gh]

Somewhere (probably in Chicago), some law dude is smiling.

Smiling? I'd say full-blown shit-eating grin. Let's see, sue a deep-pockets bank that's huge on PR. Who cares about whether or not the case has any merit; you're gonna score!

[TrakFan]

Will the race organizer's attorneys use his own word against him?

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/10/25 ... index.html

"He said Chicago is "a nice course," there was "was nothing wrong with the ground" and he plans to return next year.

"I just fell down," Cheruiyot said."

[MJD]

And he can't prove monetary damages the way he has been running.

[gh]

Sure he can! No WR bonus that was surely his for the asking. (see: sooo easy to think like a lawdude)

[unclezadok]

Aside from the usual knee-jerk reaction that all lawyers suck, it seems like (1) he might have a good case because it seems like it really was a slippery spot; and (2) he might have a bad case because nobody else fell down.

[bad hammy]

. . . and (2) he might have a bad case because nobody else fell down.

Didn't they remove the slippery strip shortly after he fell?

[Law dude]

Somewhere (probably in Chicago), some law dude is smiling.

Smiling? I'd say full-blown shit-eating grin. Let's see, sue a deep-pockets bank that's huge on PR. Who cares about whether or not the case has any merit; you're gonna score!

The deep pockets of the bank have little to do with it. They're just the sponsors and if they're sued, they'll probably be able to get the case against them dismissed quickly, since they just put up sponsorship bucks and had nothing to do with details like securing the mats at the finish line.

That would be the responsibility of the Marathon people. It's the marathon itself that is the obvious defendant, and they may not have deep pockets, or be perceived as having them by the jury (in the highly unlikely event that this ever gets to a trial). But don't worry about the possibility that a verdict or large settlement might put the marathon out of business. That's what liability insurance is for. I'm sure they had plenty. Whether the jury knows that is another matter.

Most likely this will be settled. I don't see a big pay day for either Cheruiyot or his law dude, but Cheruiyot seems to be doing ok financially, and his law dude can do quite nicely with enough decent settlements. He doesn't have to hit a jackpot with every case.

[MJR]

When they subpeona the finish mat and reproduce the conditions of the time/date, along with having a physicist watch the video and explain that it was a slip caused by moisture on a slippery surface, he will win. Best guess is the Chicago people's insurance company will settle out of court for a few million and this will go away quietly.

[bad hammy]

Best guess is the Chicago people's insurance company will settle out of court for a few million and this will go away quietly.

And finishing mats will be forever recomposited or eliminated.

[26mi235]

He was the only one of the tens of thousands that have gone over that finishing part in many Chicago finishes and I think that they said it had been put down for a purpose (other than a sponsor logo). In addition, he supplied the rotational motion that caused the fall. This is not the case with an obvious villain; it looks like discussions for a settlement without trial.

[EPelle]

Cheruiyot rises from rags to riches
http://www.rediff.com/sports/2007/may/02cher.htm

Tergat, then the world marathon record holder and a close associate of Tanui, came visiting. His presence inspired Cheruiyot.

"After he left, I looked at his portrait and wanted to be like him," he recalled.

Tergat returned the following day and trained with the group. Impressed by Cheruiyot's determination, Tergat gave him his training shoes, telling him: "I think you can make a good runner if you train hard."

Cheruiyot went to Italy for six months and won 540,000 shillings ($7,500), which he used to buy a piece of land and six cows.