If you’ve seen the show Scare Tactics then you know why I bring it up in a question related to legal liablity. If not, it’s a Candid Camera type show where the victims are made to believe they are either going to die, they’ve killed someone, and/or they’ve witness another person being killed. It’s not even remotely funny; it’s just plain sick and it get’s even sicker every show. How could Sci Fi’s legal team possibly endorse the production of that show given the potential pain and suffering someone could claim, let alone the possiblity of someone having a heart attack, or attempting to kill his/her attacker? I’ve seen some cases where there wasn’t a chance that someone could have stopped a victim from hitting the attacker with a chair or something else. What if they had a knife in their pocket? Once that person get’s put into kill mode it’s gonna be difficult to convince him it’s a joke, even if a team of people are right outside the door. Apparently a lady is suing them over the show, and yet there is an upcoming new season. It makes no sense. They generally choose young victims who have probably been screened as “easy-going” but I can’t imagine it’s worth it.
Is there any possible way that Sci Fi could protect themselves from liablity if something goes wrong on that show?
Yeah, I totally agree that this show sounds absolutely ridiculous.
Many states have a cause of action called “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” and its little brother is “negligent infliction of emotional distress.”
Laws differ, as you know, but I think it’s a pretty common requirement that the plaintiff must show some physical damage from the intense emotional turmoil the defendant put him through, like inability to eat or sleep, seizures, miscarriage, etc. I think many states don’t allow the plaintiff simply to say “I was really really scared at the time; show me the money.”
Also, I bet one way they attempt to protect themselves from these suits is to offer folks some cash to sign a release.
Is that thing still on?
When it first appeared there was lots of discussion about how real it was:
And they did get sued, but I don’t know the outcome: