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Man says he’s addicted to cable; wants to sue Charter

W

Waluigi

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 29, 2003
348
0
Connecticut
Source

Cable TV made a West Bend man addicted to TV, caused his wife to be overweight and his kids to be lazy, he says.

And he’s threatening to sue the cable company.

Timothy Dumouchel of West Bend wants $5,000 or three computers, and a lifetime supply of free Internet service from Charter Communications to settle what he says will be a small claims suit.

Dumouchel blames Charter for his TV addiction, his wife’s 50-pound weight gain and his children’s being “lazy channel surfers,” according to a Fond du Lac police report.

Charter employees called police to the local office at 165 Knight’s Way the evening of Dec. 23 after Dumouchel showed up with a small claims complaint, reportedly intimidated an employee and made “low-level threats” to employees’ safety, according to a police report.

The report states Dumouchel gave an employee five minutes to get a supervisor to talk to him or their next contact would be “in the ocean with the sharks.”

According to the report, Dumouchel told Charter employees he plans to sue because his cable connection remained intact four years after he tried to get it canceled.

The result was that he and his family got free cable from August of 1999 to Dec. 23, 2003.

“I believe that the reason I smoke and drink every day and my wife is overweight is because we watched TV every day for the last four years,” Dumouchel stated in a written complaint against the company, included in a Fond du Lac police report.

“But the reason I am suing Charter is they did not let me make a decision as to what was best for myself and my family and (they have been) keeping cable (coming) into my home for four years after I asked them to turn it off.”

According to the police report, Dumouchel called Charter to stop his cable service in August of 1999 and was taken off the billing but not the cable service.

In a written statement, he said he put the family TV in the basement in 1999 after he had called to get cable disconnected, but soon thereafter, his wife had moved it back and hooked up the cable connection, and it still worked.

He stated he “made a deal” with her that “she could watch TV as long as the cable worked.”

He then went back to Charter and asked that they disconnect his service, which they reportedly never did.

He stated that he called Charter several times to get the service disconnected for good because he felt it was addictive, according to the report.

Charter’s director of government and public relations for eastern Wisconsin, John Miller, says he doesn’t take the threat of a lawsuit seriously.

“Even though we consider our services to be a very powerful entertainment product, I don’t think it’s reached a medical level yet where it could be proved to be addictive,” Miller said.

“In our society, any kind of legal action shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” he added.

Wisconsin Circuit Court records show no civil lawsuit papers filed in Dumouchel’s name.
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This is the most ridiculous item of the year!

--Waluigi
 
Yeah. A lifetime supply of free internet in going to make him and his wife less lazy/overweight. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

It figures. Only in Wisconsin.
 
Originally posted by pivo6
Only in Wisconsin.
Click to expand...

As a Wisconsinite, I would like to both object to and, sadly, confirm that statement.

Did anyone see the kid stuck in the toy machine? For a state that doesn't make the news often, these two whammies aren't helping much.

Anyway, someone told me this today and all I could think was "He's Nuts...and He's going to win."

Go Marquette!
Go Packers!

You are all we have going for us :(

Nate
 
Originally posted by nathanziarek
As a Wisconsinite, I would like to both object to and, sadly, confirm that statement.
Click to expand...

Sorry. I grew up in Illinois and now live in Minnesota, so I couldn't resist. The only thing missing from a typical Wisconsin story is the alcohol. :D
 
well if everything he says is true then he has a case. he asked them to turn it off and they didnt. just cause of that he will probably win. it will be fun to see how this plays out.

iJon
 
I wonder if I could get my name on the lawsuit too. I've lost countless hours watching Sportscenter.
 
Originally posted by paulwhannel
my. god.

okay, this has gone too far. game ****ing over. i'm going on a killing spree.
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I see visions of Paul doing his best Michael Douglas impersonation in the movie "Falling Down". :)

My friend and I talked about this once when he was contemplating writing a book. We said something should be written into law that would formalize a "reasonable assumption of personal liability". (Also known as the dumb-ass clause) The lack of willpower illustrates the point that our culture is breeding a populous of victims, unable to accept responsiblilty for the choices they make.

I hope he gets counter sued for wasting the courts time.
 
Suing is the unscrupulous Lazy bum way to easy money of the late 1990's early 2000's.

Before that it was marrying somebody rich and divorce him/her as soon as you could legally get away with half is money.

Suing makes legitimate 'causes less credible. Also, most of the time, the money acquired by suing could hardly replace what you've lost (health, limbs, life of a loved one, etc...) It's like apples and oranges.

Remember this guy who sued McDonalds because he got fat? *sigh*
 
this guy should be shot.

should baskin robbins be sued by overweight people because they offer free ice cream samples?

just because it is free doesn't mean they are forced to consume it...

or should i sue apple since free iTunes software compelled me to purchase an iPod and thus robbing me of $300? :D
 
more importantly, wouldnt he get billed by charter for his 4 yrs of FREE CABLE????

that would be an awesome decision. "Yes, you were addicted to cable, but you stole it for 4 years and never reported it, so your award is null. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out."

-Carly
 
I can solve the mans problems for $1000 and a the cost of travel.

1 baseball bat, eye protection, and video camera rental should solve all his problems.

Plus it would be quite fun to take a bat to all the TVs this idiot owns.

Of course Charter could send out a cable TV repairman to do the same thing, though they may have to just do the fallback and remove the batteries from the remotes.

---

Like he'd get more excersize surfing the net than becoming a potato. :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by paulwhannel
my. god.

okay, this has gone too far. game ****ing over. i'm going on a killing spree.
Click to expand...

I'm suing you for making me read things so vile and untrue.

:eek:;)

Why does the guy even bother?

scem0
 
LOL

He's suing the cable company for giving him free cable for 4 years. Wish I could get free cable for four years!
 
i think the only "logical" next step would be to sue Nike for pain and suffering for blisters on my feet by buying a new pair of shoes. Obviously they are negligent in their design as "I" should never get blisters from their product.

What a load of crappola this is! Don't people have anything better to do. God bless the american legal system.
 
Arn better watch out... I spend way to much of my time here and I'm feeling addicted! And poor. I blame macrumors for my lack of a social life as well as my beer drinking habit.:D
 
And the clincher of all this is that in the end he will end up getting something from the cable company so they don't have to take this to court.
 
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