- “The Impropriety of Punitive Damages in Mass Torts” [James A. Henderson Jr., forthcoming Georgia Law Review/SSRN via Stephen McConnell, Reed Smith/JD Supra]
- “Will SCOTUS Ruling Affect Philadelphia Court, Where 94% Of New Plaintiffs Are From Out Of State?” [Nicholas Malfitano, Penn Record/Forbes, earlier on Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court]
- Time for asbestos trusts to do what’s right [Christine Biederman, The Hill]
- “Google’s $8.5m class-action privacy payout goes to: Lawyers’ alma maters, web giant’s pals” [Kieren McCarthy, The Register on Ninth Circuit settlement approval]
- European Court of Justice should take lesson from American courts which after relaxing rigor of causality scrutiny, and seeing baseless payouts multiply, have since been on a Daubert rebound [Theodore Dalrymple, Law and Liberty; Marilyn Moberg and Kathryn Bond, Drug and Device Law]
- Law firm gold rush for opioids-recoupment suits continues as New York counties sign up [Steve Lieberman, Journal News (Rockland County, N.Y.]
Filed under: asbestos, cy pres, Daubert, forum shopping, Google, opioids, Philadelphia, punitive damages
One Comment
Aren’t punitive damages a way of compensating for harms that tend not to be compensated. Let’s take the Wells Fargo case–there are almost certainly plaintiffs whose car was improperly seized (due to the fraudulent force-placed insurance)–how are they to be made whole? If they lost their job, or if their kids couldn’t participate in activities because the other car was needed to get mom or dad to work etc., those sorts of damages wouldn’t be addressed in a normal damages suit. Is the idea that those people shouldn’t get compensation–if so, consider this–you are living somewhat paycheck to paycheck–and now, through no fault of your own, a bank ruins your credit and (basically) steals your car.
Should the damages simply be limited to the value of the car and maybe the delta between interest rates on hypothetical borrowings? From a moral standpoint, that’s a tough tough sell, and I am no fan of the plaintiffs’ bar.