[AskHugo]

>the thief here in Brazil that broke his leg after his victim roof gave away, sued the owner of the house, and won.

Source?

[joseflavio]

I am brasilian too, I could find this one [beware of strong images]:

http://www.cidadeverde.com/asssaltante-morre-eletrocutado-do...

The thief tried to break into the a trailer but it had electric fences. The thief died electrocuted and the owner of the trailer is being accused of murder (facing charges and trial).

I remember reading several others like this one, so this is real in Brasil.

[illuminate]

You cannot set up traps on your land in most countries.

[analog]

Yup, as other poster noted this would result in charges against the owner in the UK too.

You can't use deadly force against someone for theft in most civilised countries.

[thisone]

You generally can't use deadly force against someone who is not threatening your life.

[speeder]

Failed to find it :(

It is a veeeery old thing.

And so simple that I found lots of more or less similar stories, but not this particular one. (but found lots of interesting stuff on google...)

[martey]

"And so simple that I found lots of more or less similar stories..."

It is a hallmark of urban legends.

This story seems to originate with the case Bodine v. Enterprise High School, which involves a 19 year old on the roof of a high school who fell through a skylight covered with tar.

Your tale seems more likely to stem from the 1990s movie "Liar, Liar": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119528/quotes?qt0372695

[madaxe]

Not the same story, but very similar cases in the UK:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2074077.stm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223125/90-year-old-... (sorry for the daily fail link)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356388/Villagers-ou...

[kitbrennan]

In none of those examples the criminal 'successfully' sued the victim (ie. won), they merely brought a frivolous case before the court.

[stordoff]

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2074077.stm

The farmer who shot him was jailed for manslaughter of the other burglar, so this isn't totally outrageous IMO. The claim was later dropped anyway.

> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223125/90-year-old-...

Not in the UK ("Filing his claim yesterday in California [...]"), and it seems that he didn't successfully sue (nothing reported, but I imagine it would get decent coverage if he won). Just a frivolous lawsuit by the looks of it.

> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356388/Villagers-ou...

More than likely this is just the police being overly cautious. The duty of care owed to a trespasser is fairly narrow, and the fact that it is a burglar may limit this further (e.g. if the burglar are injured by glass they broke, rather than an inadvertent trespasser falling onto exposed broken glass).