r/therewasanattempt • u/Interesting_Cow5152 • 7d ago

To steal another person's property

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u/SlowDownHotSauce 7d ago

PSA: Booby trapping is EXTREMELY illegal. The injured person WILL win a civil suit against you. No, it does not matter that they were stealing or trespassing.

Source: Law School Torts class. The only other civil case that is easier to win is when someone defiles or abuses a dead body.

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u/hillswalker87 7d ago

what if it's not a razor blade but something harmless but horrible like glitter?

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u/SlowDownHotSauce 7d ago

not legal advice - That is probably fine. As long as it is not reasonably foreseeable to cause bodily harm or emotional distress. Better off not testing that line though.

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u/UntestedMethod 7d 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 7d 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 7d 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 7d 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 6d 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 7d 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 6d ago

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

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u/peepopowitz67 7d 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 6d 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.