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Comment by speeder | Hacker News Reader

This is not exactly a surprise to me, and I don't believe is purely Amazon fault, we have today in the world some very abrasive legal systems where liability is really dangerous.

It is like the thief here in Brazil that broke his leg after his victim roof gave away, sued the owner of the house, and won.

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>the thief here in Brazil that broke his leg after his victim roof gave away, sued the owner of the house, and won.

Source?

I am brasilian too, I could find this one [beware of strong images]:

http://www.cidadeverde.com/asssaltante-morre-eletrocutado-do...

The thief tried to break into the a trailer but it had electric fences. The thief died electrocuted and the owner of the trailer is being accused of murder (facing charges and trial).

I remember reading several others like this one, so this is real in Brasil.

You cannot set up traps on your land in most countries.

Yup, as other poster noted this would result in charges against the owner in the UK too.

You can't use deadly force against someone for theft in most civilised countries.

You generally can't use deadly force against someone who is not threatening your life.

Failed to find it :(

It is a veeeery old thing.

And so simple that I found lots of more or less similar stories, but not this particular one. (but found lots of interesting stuff on google...)

"And so simple that I found lots of more or less similar stories..."

It is a hallmark of urban legends.

This story seems to originate with the case Bodine v. Enterprise High School, which involves a 19 year old on the roof of a high school who fell through a skylight covered with tar.

Your tale seems more likely to stem from the 1990s movie "Liar, Liar": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119528/quotes?qt0372695

Not the same story, but very similar cases in the UK:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2074077.stm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223125/90-year-old-... (sorry for the daily fail link)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356388/Villagers-ou...

In none of those examples the criminal 'successfully' sued the victim (ie. won), they merely brought a frivolous case before the court.

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2074077.stm

The farmer who shot him was jailed for manslaughter of the other burglar, so this isn't totally outrageous IMO. The claim was later dropped anyway.

> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223125/90-year-old-...

Not in the UK ("Filing his claim yesterday in California [...]"), and it seems that he didn't successfully sue (nothing reported, but I imagine it would get decent coverage if he won). Just a frivolous lawsuit by the looks of it.

> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356388/Villagers-ou...

More than likely this is just the police being overly cautious. The duty of care owed to a trespasser is fairly narrow, and the fact that it is a burglar may limit this further (e.g. if the burglar are injured by glass they broke, rather than an inadvertent trespasser falling onto exposed broken glass).

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