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Randomly · 10-11-2004, 01:21 AM

There already is a cap on punitive damages. Punitive damages were created to punish corporations, people, and doctors that ignore safety and protection of others in order to save money. To find the punitive damages, you multiply actual damages by 3. Every court in the nation does this. Juries sometimes ignore the instruction and award 900 bajillion dollars, but the judge always lowers it down to 3 times actual.

A good example is the girl in Edwards case. The insurance company and the pool manufacture discovered a flaw in the design that could be corrected with a single 2 cent screw and 1 hour of labor (to arrive, find, fix, and return). The pool manufacture decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to repair so ignored the danger.

The little girl went swimming in her pool and sat down on the drain. In a normal pool, the drain system would have shut down. In this pool, the suction was to the point that the girl was unable to get up. The suction kept rising until it reached a level were it sucked the intestines out of her body. It was her intestines that finally clogged the machinery and turned it off.

This little girl barely survived the incident and lives with only a few inches of remaining intestine. The jury found the company negligable, rightfully. The punitive damages plus the actual damages shut the company down. They couldn't afford to pay for her life long medical expenses nor 3 times that in pain and suffering. In retrospect, the 2 cent screw and 1 hour labor seems cheap, yet they made the choice to risk lawsuits over paying that small amount.

Edwards opponents always sling up the charge that Edwards is an evil trial lawyer that shuts down small businesses and chases doctors out of state. It doesn't stick because each of Edwards cases involve a doctor or business that needed to be closed down for the fact that they were bad businesses trading human lives and/or safety for a few cents extra profit.

Thats how the system works and thats how we want it to work. We need it to close down the unsafe and to be the champion of justice for the public and not the protector of the corrupt and the profit margin.

10-11-2004, 01:21 AM	#6 (permalink)
Randomly Upright	There already is a cap on punitive damages. Punitive damages were created to punish corporations, people, and doctors that ignore safety and protection of others in order to save money. To find the punitive damages, you multiply actual damages by 3. Every court in the nation does this. Juries sometimes ignore the instruction and award 900 bajillion dollars, but the judge always lowers it down to 3 times actual. A good example is the girl in Edwards case. The insurance company and the pool manufacture discovered a flaw in the design that could be corrected with a single 2 cent screw and 1 hour of labor (to arrive, find, fix, and return). The pool manufacture decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to repair so ignored the danger. The little girl went swimming in her pool and sat down on the drain. In a normal pool, the drain system would have shut down. In this pool, the suction was to the point that the girl was unable to get up. The suction kept rising until it reached a level were it sucked the intestines out of her body. It was her intestines that finally clogged the machinery and turned it off. This little girl barely survived the incident and lives with only a few inches of remaining intestine. The jury found the company negligable, rightfully. The punitive damages plus the actual damages shut the company down. They couldn't afford to pay for her life long medical expenses nor 3 times that in pain and suffering. In retrospect, the 2 cent screw and 1 hour labor seems cheap, yet they made the choice to risk lawsuits over paying that small amount. Edwards opponents always sling up the charge that Edwards is an evil trial lawyer that shuts down small businesses and chases doctors out of state. It doesn't stick because each of Edwards cases involve a doctor or business that needed to be closed down for the fact that they were bad businesses trading human lives and/or safety for a few cents extra profit. Thats how the system works and thats how we want it to work. We need it to close down the unsafe and to be the champion of justice for the public and not the protector of the corrupt and the profit margin. Last edited by Randomly; 10-11-2004 at 01:25 AM..