Teens Settle Lost iPod Dispute; Plan To Use Publicity To Help McGruff

from the about-time dept

Remember the case of the stolen iPod? That was where a teenager (or perhaps her mother) sued her (formerly) close friend after the friend placed the iPod she had borrowed on a schoolroom desk, where it was promptly stolen. After this story got out, some people offered to donate an iPod and iTunes credit to end the lawsuit, but the mother of the girl refused. However, it looks like the case has now been settled. Engadget points us to the details of the settlement. The girl who borrowed and lost the iPod will give her own iPod to the original iPod owner — but rather than use it, they will auction off the iPod, hopefully capitalizing on the fame of the case to drive up the price. They’ll then use the proceeds to begin a “junior CrimeStoppers program” in their neighborhood. Believe it or not, it seems that the girls worked all this out between themselves without getting the mother who refused the donated iPods involved. She claims the trade is “an insult” — even though this iPod is a video iPod with a lot more storage, rather than the iPod Nano that was lost. What’s really odd about the whole case, however, is how little attention was paid to figuring out who actually stole the original iPod. If it was just in a classroom, the number of suspects can’t be all that high. One more chapter in our ever so litigious society — though, it’s nice that the girls figured out how to come to an amicable settlement (even if the mother wasn’t thrilled with it).


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Comments on “Teens Settle Lost iPod Dispute; Plan To Use Publicity To Help McGruff”

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21 Comments
Colonel Mustard says:

Plum

I think the Professor Plum stole it with the knife in the study. Oh wait that’s clue and this seems pretty shady. I think the girls figured the could cash in if they came to some settlement and put it on the news. Why else would they come to a settlement where neither ended up with an ipod where in fact the total of personal losses is ~$500. I bet the girl ‘broke’ or lost the ipod and made the theft story up and figured she would end up loosing her ipod no matter what and that if she did some charitable act she would be a winner.

Anonymous Coward says:

That’s twice now I’ve seen the “for love or money” post on here.. dude.. stop posting that insanely long thing and come up with an original idea.

So on the topic… It has yet to be seen that they have actually set up this “junior crime stoppers” thing. Lets wait till that is up and running before we start giving them accolades. And on another note… who’s really going to buy that iPod?

A Used IPod At More Than Retail Cost New??? says:

Re: Who Would Buy

Just because two little girls got their 2 seconds of fame from media by filing a lawsuit so ridiculously frivolous, does not mean their Ipod is now “special”. The “extra” cost (if some sap buys into their lies) will not be spent to form a Junior police force. If they are such good detectives, where is the original music player? Who stole it? Besides, what methods can little kids use to stop criminal acts by minors? Binoculars and careful watching of others (others who are living their own life, instead of watching other people go about the day) in hopes that they see someone steal?
I suggest letting the camera equipped sharks do their job. That is why I pay taxes, to let the sharks make my time on this earth safer and help them feed their offspring.
You gotta give the two kids credit though, they learned at an early age how to milk the media for free advertising, money, and some “fame”. Regular Paris Hilton wannabes.

Solo says:

A few random points:

Blog entries cater to readers with ADD who want short description of a specific point/story. That’s the name of the game. So when you post a 2,500 words rant story in an irrelevant comment, nobody’s gonna read it. Yes, I’m looking at you sivasankaran.

Back when I was a kid, if one of my “friend” would lose my $350 doodad, all that it got him was a painful puch in the face. Then again, I did not have anything to my name that expensive. Closest to that was a $20 calculator. And losing it would still get you a punch in the face.

Finally, sivasankaran, that was a great story, thanks for sharing. However I did not read it. I would suggest you get your own glob.

James says:

Re: should not have kids

It is interesting to see that the “children” were much more “adult” about all this than the so-called adult mother.

Some people should not have kids. This Mom is one of those people.

Wait a sec, let’s follow this logic. Children are more “adult” than the adult. So the adult, being less “adult” than the children, shouldn’t have children, even though they are more “adult”?

Now, I agree that stupid people shouldn’t breed (and that they breed faster), but this example proves the exception and not the rule.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

So, what, we remove all the white people? I would hope not all Caucasians are lawsuit-happy, and I’m a fair bit cynical.
I would say background, what the parents have been through, their experiences, is more important than race. Yes, part-African parents would react differently, but they also had ancestors who were slaves, while Caucasians don’t seem to know anything about even indentured servitude. As usual, anyone could be wrong, myself included….

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