OPINION: When Iditarod dog drive Mitch Seavey was attacked by hisown knife in 2011 and injured enough to be forced out of the race,he was upset. He did what people do in America these days when theyare upset. He filed a lawsuit against the store that sold him theknife and the company that manufactured the knife. No one paid any attention.
The suit was stupid. Then an Anchorage newspaper picked up the story in May of this year. Now the 52-year-oldSeavey, the 2004 winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, isbeing mocked all over the 49th state and in goodly parts of therest of the country. Design flaw? At dinner the other night, a former leader of the AlaskaLegislature described the Seavey suit as part of what is wrong withthe country.
If judges would toss out this sort of frivolous crap,the now retired politician observed, the civil court systemwouldn't be bogged down the way it is today. Frivolous crap? Well, yes, as some online commentators appeared to quickly figureout as the Seavey story rippled across the internet. The Seaveycase, you see, hinges on the idea the lock-back Kershaw knife hewas using had a design flaw that caused the lock to fail whichcaused the blade to collapse on Seavey's hand, nearly severing afinger. But there are a whole lot of problems with Seavey'sargument, starting with the one quickly noted by a participant on thehighroad.org , a popular forum for shooters and other firearms owners. Disc Oil Separator
"Sounds like the 'musher' Seavy (sic) oughta invest in a linecutter, a fixed blade or carry a live Boy Scout to safely performhis cutting for him," posted someone with the handle ApacheCoTodd."I...would guess from this poorly (written) - though sadlystandardly poor - article, that he was using it to hook towards himas a line cutter rather than hook away as a gut hook is intended.I'm sure the knife, the manufacturer and unfortunately, theretailer sold it as a gut-hook folder." The "gut-hook" feature, as it is called, is incorporated into theblade to make it easier for hunters to eviscerate big-game animalswithout cutting into the intestines, spilling intestinal fluid andruining the meat of the animal. The "gut-hook" feature is notdesigned for cutting the twine holding together bales of straw. Folding knives fold Others were quick to pick up on the significance of this. "It's agut hook, not a cord cutter. Hence, I read that as he was using theknife in a manner for which it was/is not intended, implied, noradvertised to be used," posted ugaarguy on the same forum. Industrial Oil Separators
He's right, and there is problem No. 1 for Seavey. He was using thetool -- in this case a knife -- to do a job for which it was notdesigned. It would be sort of like using a bobby pin to clean thewax out of your ear and then suing the manufacturer when you injureyour ear drum. China Disc Oil Separator
As someone calling themselves Shnick posted on another forum devoted to bush craft, "I feel bad for the guy, but when youexpect certain conditions you don't buy a folder. I own severalfolders and each one has talents and limitations. I do not howeverown a gut hook knife ...These guys are using it as a cordagecutter, not it's original intended use. He probably didn't have itlocked in the first place ... Gloves, mittens, driving snow, itcould happen." And therein is problem number two.
Everyone -- or at least everyonewho has spent much time in the outdoors, especially in Alaska --knows that folding knives fold, and that when using a lockbackfolder, YOU SHOULD TREAT IT AS IF IT HAS NO LOCK. Seavey ignoredthis rule. He treated his folding knife like it was a fixed-bladeknife, and it attacked him for the oversight. He says it was because the release for unlocking the knife ispoorly placed on the handle. Because it was poorly placed, hebelieves, he accidentally hit it, the blade released and -- viola!-- he was in pain and bleeding all over his dog straw.
There aretwo problems there --the first being that Seavey bought the knifeand should have noticed when he bought it where the lock mechanismis located.
The suit was stupid. Then an Anchorage newspaper picked up the story in May of this year. Now the 52-year-oldSeavey, the 2004 winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, isbeing mocked all over the 49th state and in goodly parts of therest of the country. Design flaw? At dinner the other night, a former leader of the AlaskaLegislature described the Seavey suit as part of what is wrong withthe country.
If judges would toss out this sort of frivolous crap,the now retired politician observed, the civil court systemwouldn't be bogged down the way it is today. Frivolous crap? Well, yes, as some online commentators appeared to quickly figureout as the Seavey story rippled across the internet. The Seaveycase, you see, hinges on the idea the lock-back Kershaw knife hewas using had a design flaw that caused the lock to fail whichcaused the blade to collapse on Seavey's hand, nearly severing afinger. But there are a whole lot of problems with Seavey'sargument, starting with the one quickly noted by a participant on thehighroad.org , a popular forum for shooters and other firearms owners. Disc Oil Separator
"Sounds like the 'musher' Seavy (sic) oughta invest in a linecutter, a fixed blade or carry a live Boy Scout to safely performhis cutting for him," posted someone with the handle ApacheCoTodd."I...would guess from this poorly (written) - though sadlystandardly poor - article, that he was using it to hook towards himas a line cutter rather than hook away as a gut hook is intended.I'm sure the knife, the manufacturer and unfortunately, theretailer sold it as a gut-hook folder." The "gut-hook" feature, as it is called, is incorporated into theblade to make it easier for hunters to eviscerate big-game animalswithout cutting into the intestines, spilling intestinal fluid andruining the meat of the animal. The "gut-hook" feature is notdesigned for cutting the twine holding together bales of straw. Folding knives fold Others were quick to pick up on the significance of this. "It's agut hook, not a cord cutter. Hence, I read that as he was using theknife in a manner for which it was/is not intended, implied, noradvertised to be used," posted ugaarguy on the same forum. Industrial Oil Separators
He's right, and there is problem No. 1 for Seavey. He was using thetool -- in this case a knife -- to do a job for which it was notdesigned. It would be sort of like using a bobby pin to clean thewax out of your ear and then suing the manufacturer when you injureyour ear drum. China Disc Oil Separator
As someone calling themselves Shnick posted on another forum devoted to bush craft, "I feel bad for the guy, but when youexpect certain conditions you don't buy a folder. I own severalfolders and each one has talents and limitations. I do not howeverown a gut hook knife ...These guys are using it as a cordagecutter, not it's original intended use. He probably didn't have itlocked in the first place ... Gloves, mittens, driving snow, itcould happen." And therein is problem number two.
Everyone -- or at least everyonewho has spent much time in the outdoors, especially in Alaska --knows that folding knives fold, and that when using a lockbackfolder, YOU SHOULD TREAT IT AS IF IT HAS NO LOCK. Seavey ignoredthis rule. He treated his folding knife like it was a fixed-bladeknife, and it attacked him for the oversight. He says it was because the release for unlocking the knife ispoorly placed on the handle. Because it was poorly placed, hebelieves, he accidentally hit it, the blade released and -- viola!-- he was in pain and bleeding all over his dog straw.
There aretwo problems there --the first being that Seavey bought the knifeand should have noticed when he bought it where the lock mechanismis located.