Chutzpah: Whose Fault Is It Anyway?

Bank Robber Daniel Candelairo had just sprinted out the door of California Savings & Loan in Oakland last summer, when his getaway was rudely interrupted. The bundle of cash he had stuffed into his pocket had been booby- trapped with a security device. The wad exploded, disrupting the hapless thief’s escape and causing second- and third-degree burns around his genitals.

Though he is now serving an eight-year jail sentence, Candelairo is still trying to make a killing from the caper. He has filed a lawsuit claiming that his injuries from the booby-trapped loot entitle him to $2 million in damages. Stanford Law Professor Marc Franklin says Candelairo could have a case “if he can prove that the intent of the bank was to cause him physical injury.” “The punishment for bank robbery,” he adds, “isn’t maiming.”