Eighty-three-year-old Queens resident Evelyn Paswall, a former Manhattan fur-company VP, clearly wasn't familiar with the sleek design of glass-walled Apple retail stores when she went to visit one in Manhasset, Long Island last December to return an iPhone. In the course of walking into the store's glass front door, Paswall broke her nose, and is now suing Apple for $75,000 in medical expenses, as well as an additional $1 million for negligence, or lack of elderly-proofing.
In our overly-litigious society, where too-hot coffee can lead to a court date, a case like this wouldn't seem to point towards a favorable judgment, and white markings designed to prevent such accidents were apparently on the glass. But Paswall's attorney, Derek T. Smith, says,
"Apple wants to be cool and modern and have the type of architecture that would appeal to the tech crowd, but on the other hand, they have to appreciate the danger that this high-tech modern architecture poses to some people."
I feel for Mrs. Paswall's misfortune, but clean, hip architectural designs will not be curtailed due to people banging into see-through facades. (Or thinking Frank Gehry is the Antichrist for that matter.) Sure, Apple could take time out from building their solid-gold statue of Steve Jobs, and dig a million dollars out from under the sofa cushions at HQ and just give it to Paswall, but that would be ignoring the principle, wouldn't it? Maybe Mrs. Paswall should just stick with online shopping.
