I was in the jury pool selected to sit in a trial where the family was conspicuously looking for deep pockets when their father died after falling off of his motor scooter. Their plan was obvious, when the facts were put forward. I wasn't selected for the jury, but I listened for a while after it was seated.

When I was in New York City a few years ago in Riverside Park on Manhattan's west side, a little kid ran into me on his bike. Pow! Hurt like the dickens and I walked with a limp for the next couple of days. I wasn't in my 80s and kept my balance, but the parent was with this child and didn't bat an eye, didn't apologize, didn't scold the child. To the contrary, she hustled the child off like I might be some kind of predatory adult. If she' done real damage I'd have had the cops chase down the mother and get the information, because she was responsible for her child's behavior.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for either party in this case. They sound like they deserve each other.

SRS