Posted On: June 17, 2008, 11:53 am CDT

Posted By: adjustme2

I agree with what everyone said about the insurance company paying $25m when the foam company could not be confirmed as the one that manufactured the foam. It is really disheartening. I know for sure that the most likely reason the $25m settlement occurred is because over the course of fighting the litigation - because if they could not definitively identify the insured as the manufacturer, they probably could not definitively state that the insured did NOT manufacture the foam - so instead of paying $25m in defense costs (the average case costs $75,000+ in litigation fees & this would be no average case and would be in the court system for years) the insurance company prudently decided not to go to trial because it would have cost them the defense costs PLUS a jury award & this is NOT a case to try because it was so terrible and it is probable that a jury would award something & that something would probably be substantial because of the number of fatalities and it was in their community - that said, I do agree that this is a travesity of justice but the insurance company probably saved $$$$ by settling the case and not going to trial. Sorry guys that is the reality of some cases - juries can be crazy in the size of awards.