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I am googling those. I hadn't thought of doing so, but I will look at least briefly.
This is interesting:
"Judges and attorneys do not instruct the jury about damages caps because they do not want juries to use the cap as a starting point when they award damages. Instead, juries are encouraged to award the amount they think is fair, and the damages award is modified later according to that state's cap."
What's funny is that it's completely hit or miss. For example, a state might have caps for medical malpractice but then be a complete mess for auto insurance.
Remember the old case of the elderly woman who had spilled HOT McDonald’s coffee on her lap and was awarded many millions of dollars? She ended up getting a very small amount for her pain and suffering when the final dollar was given. The point is that even thou a court awards large amounts, the parties involved sometimes will settle for much less “after” the case is heard. Not all of what we hear or read about is valid when it comes to payouts and money received.
Stop it. The coffee was way too hot. It was 190 degrees. She sustained third-degree burns. She asked for her medical expenses ($20,000). McDonald's offered her $800.
If McD took the precautions and warnings, they could have avoided that infamous coffee lawsuit.
Do you really need a warning that coffee is hot? While on the topic all these warnings are a hazard themselves, people are used to seeing so much nonsense they never read them and something that may be important is missed. My favorite is "If you are allergic to XYZ,don't use XYZ"...... No ****...
This might be an urban legend and untrue, but I remember reading about someone who sued an RV manufacturer because she took "cruise control" to mean that she could go in the back and make a sandwich and the RV would drive itself, which resulted in an accident. This was about 15-20 years ago, I think.) It was something about why there are so many ridiculous (obvious) warnings about products now.
I am in favor, however, of HUGE awards in some cases as a punishment for intentionally offensive and harmful behavior. I was totally in favor of huge fines against the tobacco industry, and I also was very pleased and surprised about that Oberlin College was fined when at least some of its officials encouraged a boycott against a family business after it falsely accused it of being racist.
I don't know a lot about the law covering damage awards but there are a steady stream of award amounts that don't seem appropriate.
That's probably because you weren't on the jury.
In some instances, State or federal law permits statutory damages. Those damages are written into the statute and state an actual dollar amount or a method of calculating the amount.
That never changes.
Compensatory damages are awarded for actual financial losses, including future losses. Those are rarely changed, unless there was reversible error at trial.
Punitive damages are awarded because we don't send people to jail in civil suits.
There are few things that people understand, but the one thing that everyone understands is money.
In lieu of prison, punitive damages are intended to be a deterrent to prevent the defendant from future transgressions.
Once, Tampa General Hospital amputated the wrong limb from a patient. Then they had to go back and amputate the limb they were supposed to amputate.
What's that worth to you? $5? $500? $5,000?
Then, a few months later, Tampa General Hospital did it again. They amputated the wrong limb from a patient. Perhaps if the first trial had been completed before-hand, and Tampa General paid $50 Million in punitive damages, they wouldn't have screwed up a second time. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.
Contrary to the nonsense proffered by some, punitive damages as they relate to medical malpractice is a nothing-burger.
I'm sure someone will dredge the woman burned by McDonald's coffee.
Did they tell you her age? She had 79 years.
Did they show you the photos of her burns taken at the hospital? Probably not, because that would gross you out.
And, if you don't know what a 2nd Degree burn is, you might want to google that.
Anyway, there's nothing wrong with the system, in spite of what the nay-sayers say.
And she almost died from those injuries that happened sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car. She only asked for medical bills to be paid. McDonald's wouldn't.
This is exactly right. Any time I see people talk about how she got way more than she should have, or that she was looking for a free pay day, I see how brainwashed those people have become by main stream media.
The msm did not tell the truth.
The reality is exactly what you stated: She only asked for her medical bills to be covered. McDonald's refused. They paid the price. She didn't get much in the end, after it was all over. Guess who got that money?
We need lawyers, but we need less, way less, scummy lawyers. They get rich off of the suffering of others, and people blame the person who was injured in some way.
After my car accident in 1999 where some idiot pot head moron plowed into me, I had to go to arbitration. I won. Huge settlement. I got about 1/4 of that settlement. Some of it went to pay off the medical bills that I had accumulated, and the rest, the biggest part of it, went to the lawyer. I got the least amount out of everyone who got something out of it - but I'm the one who got hit, and I'm the one who still suffers from the injuries from that hit to this day.
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