r/therewasanattempt • u/Interesting_Cow5152 • 5d ago

To steal another person's property

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u/UntestedMethod 5d ago

What about Mark Rober's anti-porch-pirate glitter bombs? Could those be considered to cause emotional distress to the thieves?

I'm just curious where the line is...

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u/SlowDownHotSauce 5d ago

Highly unlikely. Emotional distress needs to rise to a very high level before it is something you’re likely to win in court.

The test usually involves something like showing that the person is SO emotionally distressed that they cannot function normally like they used to. Like can’t sleep, work, etc.

So not really a risk of that happening from the glitter/stink bomb stuff. MAYBE if the stink bomb caused like a crazy allergic reaction or something, but even then you’d have to prove that it was reasonably foreseeable that the allergic reaction would occur and that Marc knew/or should have known that it was likely to happen. At that point, it would honestly make more sense to sue the stink bomb manufacturer for strict product liability. Instead of Marc Rober.

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u/skippyjifluvr 5d ago

Vanessa Bryant won an emotional distress claim against a first responder after she heard he showed someone a picture of the helicopter crash site.

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u/PhgAH 5d ago

I mean yeah, knowing photo of your husband corpse is being passed around probably cause more distress than being glitter-bombed

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u/BowenTheAussieSheep 4d ago

Not to mention the very high risk of some outlet like TMZ offering whoever has that photo big bucks so they can show it to the entire world.

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u/maroon1721 5d ago

I may be wrong, but I thought her claim was more akin to invasion of privacy, not a pure emotional distress claim. You can tag emotional distress along with another claim—it’s the standalone distress claim that’s almost impossible to win.

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u/cyon_me 4d ago

This is not a gotcha, the courts tend to be more competent than the headlines suggest.

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u/peepopowitz67 5d ago

There was a woman on her who lost an eye due to getting glitter in it and it caused abrasions which got infected.

IIRC he switched to some sort of biodegradable 'safe' glitter after the first year.

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u/LosWitchos 4d ago

Why is the law so protective for potential burglars?

I get not wanting to put all the law into people's hands because yes, life-changing injuries and/or death could happen to the perpetrator (or innocent passers-by) but sometimes it feels like burglars are suing for industrial injury in the workplace or something ha.

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u/SirGirthfrmDickshire 5d ago

I believe the booby trap lawsuit specifically covers physical damage, because if it covered nonphysical then one could argue jump scares, glitter bombs, in general most pranks could fall under being a booby trap.

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u/stuffeh Anti-Spaz :SpazChessAnarchy: 5d ago

Damages caused by the glitter bomb is a cleaning fee which is way less than the felony of stealing a USPS package when admitting to the theft.

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u/Mr-Fleshcage 4d ago

I saw a post of a person who got glitter in their eye. They couldn't save the eye.

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u/Waiting4The3nd 5d ago

Didn't he do a separate video about how the glitter bombs were technically illegal?

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u/DoctorGregoryFart 5d ago

The criminal claims they got glitter in their eyes and it caused serious issues?

If I were an attorney, that's what I'd aim for.

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u/ForsakenMoon13 5d ago

Considering the post office has thier own seperate police force with thier own training and rules and take mail tampering or theft very seriously, a criminal could certainly try but I doubt any attorney is going to be willing to get within a hundred miles of that case lol

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u/DoctorGregoryFart 5d ago

Wouldn't the case be against the homeowner who rigged a glitter bomb and not the post office?

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u/ForsakenMoon13 5d ago

No, I'm saying that if a criminal brings that kind of a case forward, that means they have to admit to tampering with someone else's mail, which is a federal offense that the post office has thier own specific police to deal with.

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u/DoctorGregoryFart 5d ago

Oh I see. Yeah, if they get roped into it, then the thief better have a really good fucking lawyer.

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u/Character_Actuator_6 5d ago

I'm sure he runs that stuff past a team of lawyers prior to making the videos

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u/Alien_Diceroller 5d ago

He talked about consulting with lawyers and he worked with the police to some degree when he built those.

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u/Doctor_Kataigida 5d ago

Was he the dude who faked the results of "pirates" opening the traps?