Although it’s impossible to put a value on a human life, some of these awards are just silly, pointing out the need for serious tort reform. But the plaintiff’s bar is far and away the biggest political contributor as they get rich over the current system. And they have the Democratic Party in their back pocket. Anybody out there carry $20 billion in personal liability insurance? I carry a $3 million personal umbrella on top of my primary HO and Auto policies. And I’ll wager I carry more than 99.5% of the people out there.
These unjustified and ridiculously large punitive awards are damaging to innovation, deter any form of risk, delay release of products (including new and potentially life saving drugs)and reduce employment (other than within the legal profession). Whilst some companies undoudtedly deserve punishment, most do not and certainly not to the extent of $ billions. As for any award, at all, for a 36 year old smoker; was he locked in a room his entire life with no acces to media? At the age that he must have started, the potential ill effects from smoking were fully known and can hardly be blamed on the tobacco company selling a product that it’s legally allowed to sell. For that matter, why not sue the Government for allowing cigarettes to be sold? It and the public benefit from the taxes collected, perhaps they should be co-defendants? That might bring about rapid tort reform!
Anyone, in this day and age, who doesn’t think that the tobacco companies, who lied to the nation and to congress about the health effects of their product, who lied about addiction, who created fake science to spread their message, who created and implemented marketing plans to addict children, who are still doing this today across the globe, anyone who thinks those companies aren’t evil is either 1) an idiot or 2) in the employ of a tobacco company or 3) all of the above. Shame on them and shame on any company who puts profits over safety.
I’m of two minds on this one. On one side, I’m glad that we have a system like this that allows for ordinary people to fight back against corporations with products or services with demonstrable danger. On the other hand, I’m afraid that some people will attempt to game the system in an effort for personal enrichment. http://www.dianeparsons.ca/product_liability.html
Although it’s impossible to put a value on a human life, some of these awards are just silly, pointing out the need for serious tort reform. But the plaintiff’s bar is far and away the biggest political contributor as they get rich over the current system. And they have the Democratic Party in their back pocket. Anybody out there carry $20 billion in personal liability insurance? I carry a $3 million personal umbrella on top of my primary HO and Auto policies. And I’ll wager I carry more than 99.5% of the people out there.
These unjustified and ridiculously large punitive awards are damaging to innovation, deter any form of risk, delay release of products (including new and potentially life saving drugs)and reduce employment (other than within the legal profession). Whilst some companies undoudtedly deserve punishment, most do not and certainly not to the extent of $ billions. As for any award, at all, for a 36 year old smoker; was he locked in a room his entire life with no acces to media? At the age that he must have started, the potential ill effects from smoking were fully known and can hardly be blamed on the tobacco company selling a product that it’s legally allowed to sell. For that matter, why not sue the Government for allowing cigarettes to be sold? It and the public benefit from the taxes collected, perhaps they should be co-defendants? That might bring about rapid tort reform!
Anyone, in this day and age, who doesn’t think that the tobacco companies, who lied to the nation and to congress about the health effects of their product, who lied about addiction, who created fake science to spread their message, who created and implemented marketing plans to addict children, who are still doing this today across the globe, anyone who thinks those companies aren’t evil is either 1) an idiot or 2) in the employ of a tobacco company or 3) all of the above. Shame on them and shame on any company who puts profits over safety.
Then should cigarettes be made illegal?
I’m of two minds on this one. On one side, I’m glad that we have a system like this that allows for ordinary people to fight back against corporations with products or services with demonstrable danger. On the other hand, I’m afraid that some people will attempt to game the system in an effort for personal enrichment. http://www.dianeparsons.ca/product_liability.html