Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 10:47:00 -0800
From: PARIS LORNA <balloonchick@home.com>
To: John Gordon <johngordon@magicworks.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Re: The Law?

John Gordon wrote:
>Once the 'customer' has gone away, you cannot surely
> be held responsible for what they do with their belongings?

I hate to say it John, but YES. . in the USA's particularly litigious
society you can. People sue one another here for the most trivial of
reasons-- since the choking death of a child is not trivial, that makes
the lawsuit even more likely!

Even if you warn a person of the choking hazards of a balloon, and they
opt to ignore you, YOU are the one who will ultimately be held
responsible.

When a parent of an infant asks for a balloon for their child.  I,
usually, respond with the choking stats that have been presented here in
the past.  999 times out of 1,000 they voluntarily withdraw their
request.  This is a very touchy subject, especially towards the West
coast of the US (where things are even more litigious).

Take a loook at the archives of BHQ, we even have insurance for things
like this.

btw, someone posted somethings about a news article about a child who
choked to death on a balloon animal. Where did you get this
infdormation.  I. personally, would be very interested in reading it.

Lorna