<< I am not familiar with what is considered "reasonable compensation" in other countries, but over here in The Netherlands, we take great care NOT to create an American situation. Many lawsuits that make it to US courts are considered so ridiculous here that they will never even make it to court (such as the lawsuits mentioned in the nominations for the Stella Awards). Claims for millions of Euros certainly will not get awarded -- if you win, you usually get awarded any real damages (medical expenses, loss of income, cost of replacing/repairing damaged goods) plus perhaps a few hundred Euros extra for the pain. IIRC, the highest amount ever awarded was NLG 500,000 (at current rate, approx. $250,000). And that is an extremely high amount by our standards. >>
Well, most Americans would agree with you about the absurdity of cases such as those mentioned above. They are usually caused by excessive sympathy for the suffering of the plaintiff (plus an expectation that the actual amount of damages will be reduced by the trial judge or by an appeals court). Also, in a lot of cases, these suits are eventually settled for a whole lot less, once the defendant has lost and offers less money in exchange for not appealing. But that doesn't change the fact of how utterly ridiculous these judgments are in the first place. The fact is (I think - hope?) that these cases are distinguished precisly BY their absurdity and they are not representative. Which does not excuse them, of course. Some of the "cures" mentioned (mostly by conservative politicians and by the lackeys of the insurance companies and the big corporations that would just love to be immune from almost any kind of liability no matter how guilty they are) would basically throw out all lawsuits, even legitimate ones, in order to guard against the frivolous ones we're all so incensed by. And my feeling is, I'd rather run the risk of an occasional judicial outrage caused by being too lax than bring about many acts of injustice by being too strict. What we really need, of course, is smarter jurors. Yeah, right. Tom Beck www.prydonians.org "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I didn't realize I'd also see the last." - Jerry Pournelle
