To clarify with this staggering figure. The couple's lawyer requested 1 billion each, the jury reached a verdict in their favour regarding the cancer but they don't get to say "yes we find Monsanto guilty but only for X payout". So the actual payout will likely be in the range of 1/10th of that as they always get reduced by the judge.
I appreciate this clarification, but still find this a bit absurd. I'm all for making corporations responsible for their actions as it surely doesn't happen enough, but even $200M is a huge amount of money for one couple.
Wasn't this used by many farmers?
Making a small number of huge payouts does not seem like justice for the majority of people affected.
Punitive damages came largely out of the Ford Pinto cases because prior to that corporate leaders would just do the calculations, figure out that the limited amount of damage/fines allowed by the law is cheaper than the cost of fixing the issue. Punitive damage is in a way meant to be absurd. The idea that the sky is the limit is meant to make those calculations impossible or very risky and thus compel corporations to fix the issue once they know about it. There are some unintended consequences of course but often times when you see such cases there are usually a history of knowing neglect or willful ignorance. In the other famous punitive damage case involving McDonald's, there was a trail of complaints to McDonald's about how hot they made their coffee (they did this on purpose because people who get coffee in the morning tend to be drivers so extra hot coffee means right temperature when they get to their office). Even then, McDonald's was only found to be partially at fault. Also many of the tobacco cases demonstrated a long history of tobacco companies knowing the health effects of smoking and lied about them.
The way these cases are sometimes reported makes American courts look crazy and leave out a lot of context and history.
Just a rough guess, googling monsanto payouts (though now it turns up pretty much only this payout) gets you a few more verdicts which have been cut to below $100 million. I figured this couple will see a similar payout too.
Comments
To clarify with this staggering figure. The couple's lawyer requested 1 billion each, the jury reached a verdict in their favour regarding the cancer but they don't get to say "yes we find Monsanto guilty but only for X payout". So the actual payout will likely be in the range of 1/10th of that as they always get reduced by the judge.
I appreciate this clarification, but still find this a bit absurd. I'm all for making corporations responsible for their actions as it surely doesn't happen enough, but even $200M is a huge amount of money for one couple.
Wasn't this used by many farmers?
Making a small number of huge payouts does not seem like justice for the majority of people affected.
Punitive damages came largely out of the Ford Pinto cases because prior to that corporate leaders would just do the calculations, figure out that the limited amount of damage/fines allowed by the law is cheaper than the cost of fixing the issue. Punitive damage is in a way meant to be absurd. The idea that the sky is the limit is meant to make those calculations impossible or very risky and thus compel corporations to fix the issue once they know about it. There are some unintended consequences of course but often times when you see such cases there are usually a history of knowing neglect or willful ignorance. In the other famous punitive damage case involving McDonald's, there was a trail of complaints to McDonald's about how hot they made their coffee (they did this on purpose because people who get coffee in the morning tend to be drivers so extra hot coffee means right temperature when they get to their office). Even then, McDonald's was only found to be partially at fault. Also many of the tobacco cases demonstrated a long history of tobacco companies knowing the health effects of smoking and lied about them.
The way these cases are sometimes reported makes American courts look crazy and leave out a lot of context and history.
That's interesting. How did you get the ratio of 1/10th?
I wonder if there's research that systematically tracks the difference between what papers publish and the actual payout over time?
Just a rough guess, googling monsanto payouts (though now it turns up pretty much only this payout) gets you a few more verdicts which have been cut to below $100 million. I figured this couple will see a similar payout too.