MA family wins $5 million verdict from country club after property hit by over 600 golf balls

[thucythucy]

14. This was a failure all around.

I see the homeowners being the least at fault, if at all.

If this location was so dangerous, why was it zoned for residential?

Why was a building permit issued?

Why was the golf course allowed to operate as if the land around it was a virtual free-fire zone?

You know the cliche: your right to swing your fist stops at the end of my nose? Since when should a business be allowed to endanger the people living nearby because, hey, those folks should know better?

Does this right to a surrounding free fire zone extend beyond golf? What about folks living near a gun range? Is the occasional death by stray bullet acceptable if the owners of the range know in advance they're putting people in the surrounding area at risk? How about manufacturing? "You should have known we'd be dumping carcinogens into the air and ground and water in this neighborhood. So your kids got cancer? Tough shit."

Why didn't the management simply move the one tee a trivial fifteen feet, after being informed of the danger? Again, what kind of a jerk says, "Yeah, your daughter was almost sliced to ribbons by a problem we could easily fix. Sucks to be her."

We'll see what happens with the appeal. Luckily this is Massachusetts, where there is at least some attempt, in general, not to dick over the general public on behalf of the hopelessly entitled.