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ProjectMoonsong t1_j3noe84 wrote

> While the court recognized “the jury verdict findings of Defendants’ liability,” and upheld the compensatory damages award, the order said it would reduce the punitive damages to $350,000, “as compelled by the Virginia statutory cap on punitive damages.”
> A Virginia state law limits the total amount awarded for punitive damages to $350,000 per case, but the law does not allow the jury to be advised of the punitive damages cap.

Headline is a bit inflammatory/clickbait-y for leaving out an important detail, though I wish they didn't have this limit so the group would have to pay the full $24 million.

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[deleted] t1_j3nw750 wrote

[removed]

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woundedbearhair t1_j3o6tif wrote

Tort reform was sold to the middle class voter with lies about protecting costs of goods when it was really about keeping bad behavior profitable for the wealthy.

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neuroticandobscene t1_j3s38ll wrote

And lies about the facts of headline cases, the McDonalds hot coffee case being the most prominent.

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Emotional-Text7904 t1_j3oa4bm wrote

Same issue in Texas, doctors have a malpractice cap so they can only pay a certain amount max no matter how badly they fuck up. Doctors who cannot practice in other states due to lack of malpractice insurance or too expensive malpractice insurance can practice in Texas. So Texans, beware

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TheGrandExquisitor t1_j3opltb wrote

Fun Fact - The British doctor who started the "vaccines cause autism," thing was struck off in the UK for being a shit doctor, but then moved to Texas!

Welcomed with open arms.

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Thegarbagegamer97 t1_j3ovx6f wrote

I’d add it to the list of mistakes my state has made over the years, but for the past decade or two ive been running out of paper to write on faster than i can restock

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Coogcheese t1_j3od50k wrote

Put in place by a total asshole who would not be where he is today and still benefits from a judgement from before those limits were put into place.

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TUGrad t1_j3ok22f wrote

Malpractice insurance industry consistently pushes the lie that caps reduce healthcare costs.

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SkyeSpider t1_j3sxj1f wrote

I ran into this in Oklahoma. A surgeon permanently screwed up my dominant hand. Every lawyer I spoke to said damages were capped at $150k (dropped to $75k a few years later), and the cost to go to court was more than that. I lost everything and couldn’t do anything about it. Fuck tort reform.

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Emotional-Text7904 t1_j3sxry2 wrote

That's so awful. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I know medical tourism is a thing but you don't expect to need to take into account malpractice limits when choosing to have surgery ffs. And not everyone can afford to travel to a different state. That sucks so much

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SkyeSpider t1_j3sy7fe wrote

I ended up moving to New York to avoid it happening again. I’ve had six surgeries on that wrist with no luck, but at least I’m protected from mistakes up here.

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No-Bother6856 t1_j3phmzq wrote

The limit is on putnitive which is in addition to compensatory. This absolutely does not mean you can't be properly compensated for damages.

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Flatline2962 t1_j3nx514 wrote

>he law does not allow the jury to be advised of the punitive damages cap.

Which is horseshit. You're asked as a juror to apply law without being told the law.

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hijinked t1_j3nxr8j wrote

They don't want the jury to simply raise the compensatory damages to make up for the punitive damages cap.

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Flatline2962 t1_j3o24wd wrote

That's the argument, but the reality of the law is that they don't want to damage or inconvenience truly wealthy people doing horrendous things.

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SatanicNotMessianic t1_j3nyc26 wrote

Which is exactly what the jury should be allowed to do. It should be illegal to allow a jury to proceed under a misunderstanding of the law.

If I were a juror, I would advise my fellow jurors of anything and everything I could discover relative to the case, but it should be unlawful for a court to lie by omission like this.

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denandrefyren t1_j3p2cru wrote

They do the same thing with jury nullification too. The system doesn't want the people to throw a wrench in things.

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ProjectMoonsong t1_j3nypvw wrote

Actually I think that's probably the only "good" thing about this punitive damage cap. By declaring that there exists a cap, you create a constraint for the jury, so they may end up deciding on a smaller punitive damage because of the cap.

Instead, allowing jurors to decide on a larger punitive damage than the cap can have a symbolic meaning. The court is bound by law, they can't avoid it, but the jury isn't, so whatever amount they decide is the amount that they believe reflects the severity of the crime.

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Flatline2962 t1_j3o1w2x wrote

>Instead, allowing jurors to decide on a larger punitive damage than the cap can have a symbolic meaning.

We've reached a point in society that "symbolic" victories are meaningless. Especially if you're the type of asshole that gets hit with 23 million in punitive damages.

Do you really think the white supremacists who had "symbolic" damages of 23 million give a damn? Especially now?

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thebooknerd_ t1_j3nqv7j wrote

I know it’s never gonna happen for many reasons, but I wish they couldn’t make such clickbait-y headlines

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Bedbouncer t1_j3t4pt4 wrote

They should have set the law to say that punitive damages, when awarded, can't be capped any lower than compensatory damages.

So it would have been 2 mill / 2 mill instead of 2 mill / $350K.

It's not really punitive if it's a fraction of the actual damages.

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