7/12    Does anyone else think that the $4.9 billion awarded to the six
        plaintiffs in the GM lawsuit is more than a little ridiculous? --dim
        \_ Why would I give a shit about GM? Of all the three American car
           companies or even any other company in the rest of the world
           they make the shitiest of cars and treat their workers like dirt.
        \_ Were you born in another country?  There's nothing ridiculous about
           it.  It's going to be appealed down into almost nothing and the
           plaintiff's grandchildren are likely to be dead of old age before
           any of them see a dime, if ever.  I see nothing wrong with it,
           except that GM is so evil, they needed to sue in the first place.
        \_ I don't know.  How many people did GM kill/maim/mutilate this time
           and did they know it would happen to someone but didn't care?
        \_ Companies as a whole can never care.  This case in question was
           concerned with a particular design for side-mounted truck fuel
           tanks.  It turned out, retrospectively, that this side-mounted
           design was not very good from the safety perspective.  I don't
           think people at GM have enough clue to be evil deliberately.
           -- ilyas
           \_ "They're too stupid to be evil".  Heard that before.  They're all
              evil.  They didn't get to be that size without being evil.
        \_ GM (in 1979) knew that this design was faulty.  They calculated
           the cost of redesign (quite high) vs. expected lawsuit settlement
           (not as high).  This just ticked off the jury, and punitive
           damages were awarded.  $4.9 Billion is about 9 months of operating
           profits in this, a very good year.   --cody
           \_ don't the large, evil corporations have insurance for things
              like this?
           \_ why is it that these ridiculous memos are always uncovered
              during these product liability trials? why don't they shred
              them?
                \_ Because like M$ and other large companies they feel above
                   the law which is why we need high rewards like this: to
                   remind these multi national monster corporations that they
                   are not above the law and people are more important than
                   their bottom line.
           \_ $4.9 billion is a lot of money. All six could have been
              killed and I wouldn't have awarded that much. That's insane.
              GM would be forced to make these people billionaires with
              the money of their customers (us). I can relate to the
              plight of the plaintiffs, but that's just too damn much
              money. Maybe they should find a way to make GM spend the
              money on certain safety programs or finance certain government
              programs (e.g. for burn victims). --dim
                \_ A smaller judgement would have reinforced the philosophy,
                   "losing lawsuits is less costly than fixing our problem."
                   I think the people on the jury purposefully made it so
                   large to tell them that this is a bad philosophy.
                        \_ The people who won the lawsuit have promised to
                           donate at least half (after the half the state
                           and feds take in taxes) to hospital burn centers.
                           \_ don't forget the lawyers' cut which I think would
                              be 1/4 to 1/3.
                                \_ Lawyer contingency fees are legally allowed
                                   to be as high as 40% plus costs.  (not sure
                                   about the costs part, but pretty sure).
                \_ If it was you driving that truck you wouldn't go through a
                   costly and painful lawsuit just to make GM do what they
                   should have done in the first place.  You think it's ok
                   for them to kill their customers as long as they donate
                   money to charities?  You feeling ok?
                   \_ Yes, GM should be made to do what they didn't
                      before. Yes, damages should have been awarded (both
                      compensatory and punitive). $4.9 billion is too
                      much, though. In fact, I think it's about 10 times
                      too high. --dim
                        \_ Hello?  It's going to be appealed to nothing.  GM
                           is *not* going to write 6 checks that total $4.9b.
                           The plaintiff's grand children will be dead of old
                           age before they see anything and it sure as hell
                           won't be $4.9b.  Glad you're not on the jury.
                           \_ I realize that there is an appeals process
                              and that the final settlement will be
                              smaller. The point is that the sum is
                              *ridiculous*. No one knows how much the
                              final settlement will be for, but GM
                              certainly won't get off cheap, Smug One. --dim
                                \_ No shit.  I'm *glad* they're not getting
                                   off cheap.  Don't you get it?  Do you own
                                   GM stock or what?
                        \_ The Government should be making them do what they
                           didn't do right the first time.  If it's so bad
                           that common citizens had to sue them to get justice
                           then the Government has way fucked up and the little
                           people should get to keep what they've won.  Fuck
                           GM and their "the lawsuits would be less expensive
                           than fixing it" crap.  Fuck that.