Suing First Responders

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Wow. I owe you my life. You owe me a half a million bucks.

A Colorado man, saved from a flood by a team of police and emergency workers, filed papers claiming he wasn't rescued fast enough and intended to sue his rescuers for half a million dollars. Obviously, it's hard to love a guy whose actions personify the word "ingrate", but does the law even allow a lawsuit against first responders?

While an average citizen has no legal duty to help someone in trouble, police and other first responders are legally obligated to help citizens and their departments can face lawsuits when they are derelict in their duty - when they negligently fail to come to the aid of a person in need. But this case is relatively rare because they were successful in rescuing him. Now they might be rethinking.

And, for all the standards the law provides, juries often make decisions based on how much they like the guy asking for the cash so, while he could bring the case, it wouldn't be an easy win.

The real question now is: who's going to rescue this guy's reputation??