Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Commentary Blogs -> Infamy or Praise

Legal Commentary

: Infamy or Praise

TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (199)

This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of CityNews (from Wednesday, December 24; link good at time of posting):

You can hire someone to clean [snow] off for you. Or you can wait for it all to melt in the spring.

But under no circumstances should you do what a man in New Bedford, Massachusetts thought was a good idea. The homeowner thought he'd save some time and trouble by burning the snow off his back porch with a blowtorch.

. . . .

The hapless homeowner got too close to his wooden framed house and accidentally ignited the vinyl siding. The flames quickly licked the outside and spread into apartments on the second and third floor.

At least 25 firefighters were needed to contain the blaze that followed, which resulted in $30,000 damage to some bedrooms, created structural troubles and scorched the electrical wiring.

Cops don't plan to charge the man, thinking he's already been punished enough.

[Previous TGIS]

Full post as published by Infamy or Praise on December 26, 2008 (boomark / email).