From this BBC article.
A washing machine complete with a warning not to put anybody inside has been given an award for the “wackiest warning” by a US lobby group.
Have you seen any particularly wacky warning labels on things? My hairblower has a warning on it saying it should not be used in the bathroom. 😕 Seems to me that’s where probably 99% of people use them.
casa azahar 
So American!
Do something utterly stupid and blame someone else!
I used to live in a small town where there was a factory making chainsaws. The manual in swedish was about 1/4 to 1/3 of the american one, since the american manual had to warn for/disencourage/forbid anything that eventually might be done with a chainsaw.
Obviuosly if some weirdo did something that wasn´t covered in the manual the company could be sued (sp?).
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I read this article at work yesterday. Oddly enough, even though I’m one of those stupid Americans, I usually don’t need a warning label to tell me such things as not to use my blow dryer in the bathroom or not to shut people in the clothes dryer. How about the HUGE lawsuit that woman won against McDonald’s after she was scalded by- big surprise!- HOT coffee? Now the lids for hot drinks always come with a warning imprinted that “beverage might be hot”.
Some warning labels make sense. The second-place winner- “Never use lit match or open flame to check gasoline levels”- was my personal favorite.
The US is a really litigious society. While a lot of that is due to general stupidity, and also to the fashionable attitude that people cannot and should not be held accountable for their own actions and choices, but also due to this society being so dog-eat-dog in financial terms. It’s hard to resist the opportunity to “stick it to the man”.
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In addition to all the above, there has been a huge change in attitudes towards the idea of being a lawyer who specializes in liability lawsuits. The term “ambulance chaser” used to be pejorative. Nowadays, we have lawyers who specialize in that exact activity advertising their skills on television. “Have you been injured in an accident? Call 1-800-Ima Junkyard Dog and we’ll get you the best settlement”
In our area we have the benefit of a lawyer who not only has his LLD and is licensed to practice before the bar, he is also a surgeon and his television commercials feature him dressed in scrubs in an operating room earnestly telling you that because of his expertise he never loses a case. Check him out: http://www.bradbradshaw.com/
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I bought a toaster the other day – a simple, two-slot pop-up type toaster. When I took it out of the box there was a piece of cardboard folded across the slots and inserted into them, with the message, ‘Do not cover toaster while in use’. (Damn, and there I was, planning to use it as a footstool.) The cardboard also had the message, ‘Remove this label before use’. That made me quite grumpy, that did.
hmh, I’m too scared to look at that lawyer. He may render me apoplectic.
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It’s probably not his fault – imagine growing up with that stupid name.
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Took a brief look at that lawyer´s site.
He certainly has got a big ego. Just read about his “expertise” concerning “fetal malpractise”. Interesting to meet someone with more knowledge than most of the real experienced experts I know professionally.
I must have made a wrong choice of career. Might have something to do with my lack of big mouth…
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Or your overabundance of scruples!
Honestly, some of these cases are *so* OTT! My friend was on a jury for a trial in San Jose, in which a woman sued Kmart because she fell off her platform shoes in the store. The floor was not dirty or slippery, she just fell off the damn shoes. HOW would this be KMart’s fault???
That Judge should have thrown the case out from the git go, and jailed that woman for contempt of society…
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