Kaljin

This verdict makes me absolutely furious! Where does personal responsibity end and corporate responsibility begin? Take the quote in big letters at the beginning of the article:

"The blade guard and splitter were removed and
he was making the cut without a rip fence."

Did no one explain to the jury what would happen without these things? The blade guard is a 'meh' piece of safety equipment in my book. You can get away without using it easy if you've got more in between your ears than a sock filled with popcorn. I've got my doubts about *ahem* certain individuals at this point...

A splitter/riving knife is much more important because kickback is much more dangerous. No amount of awareness or skill is going to keep a piece of reactive wood from closing in on the blade if it wants to. You need this piece of equipment whenever you're making a through cut.

But a rip fence??? Who would be dumb enough to NOT use a rip fence for ripping!? You're pretty much begging for a serious injury if you're not using a rip fence for ripping operations! I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the obscene audacity that some fancy pants lawyer could convince a jury that a saw was defective when it's very clear to any woodworker who's been doing it for a minute that the operator was the one who was defective! 35% liable? He is 100% liable!

Power tools are inherently very dangerous. Any adult possesing some brains and common sense can discern that. Tool companies put labels and stickers all over their products explaining the risks, telling you to read the manual, and that if you don't understand how to use the tool that you SHOULD NOT USE IT! When he was having trouble with his cut he should have gotten help. His coworkers may have laughed at him a bit and called him a dumb*&^# but he'd still have full use of his fingers and maybe he would have actually learned a useful skill instead of burdening the legal system with yet another frivolous lawsuit in the sue-happy nation we call the United States of America.