I can sympathize with this woman a bit, she was wronged. From the AP:
EL PASO - A jury awarded $27.5 million in damages to a woman of Iranian descent who said she was racially profiled when Southwest Airlines Co. accused her of assaulting a flight attendant.
But 27.5 million dollars? For what?
I’m not saying this poor woman didn’t have a case, but I doubt it’s even worth 2.75 million dollars!
Hell, give her free flights for 5 years or something, but 27.5 million dollars? That’s outrageous!
I’m almost certain that that sum will be considerably lowered upon appeal. Most are, especially when the award is so out of whack with actual damages. The woman doesn’t need medical care for life, she didn’t need hospital care at all. It just pissed her off and rightfully so, but not 27.5 million dollars worth.
I’ve sat on a civil jury and I can tell you the system is out of whack with reality. In the case I was on, the plaintiff was hurt and had ongoing medical problems and loss of income. He had to have his neck bones fused and he was a glazer. They (my fellow jurors) kept saying, “Let’s GIVE him this amount” for this or that and they even tried to add things in that even the plaintiff’s attorney didn’t ask for. My question early on was, “Whose money were we giving him?” The defendants rear-ended the guy in two separate accidents and pooled their defense.
I and two others finally got the amount down but the amount was still over a hundred grand more than the guy was EVEN ASKING FOR!
I tried to do what was fair. I tried to look at it from both the perspectives of the plaintiff and the defendants. That could be me in either case. I’m convinced after that experience, that there are some serious flaws in the system.
And when I read about a case such as this, I’m convinced even more.
VW
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