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A comment on Charter told to pay $7.3b in damages after cable installer murders grandmother.

Re:Charter told to pay $7.3b in damages after cable installe... by treesknees on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @01:19PM (#32253339)
I don't say this to diminish the value of human life, because there certainly is no amount of money in the world that can bring back a murdered loved one, but I'm wondering how they come up with the value of $7 billion? I mean that will certainly get the attention of service providers, I'm just surprised at the amount.
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Re:Charter told to pay $7.3b in damages after cable installe... by missedthecue on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @01:42PM (#32253728)
Juries always award huge punitive damages. Like when a jury awarded that employee of Tesla $137 million because he was harassed at work.

A judge will always reduce this amount to a more reasonable level.

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Re:Charter told to pay $7.3b in damages after cable installe... by jstummbillig on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @02:16PM (#32254304)
Okay but still, why.
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Re:Charter told to pay $7.3b in damages after cable installe... by missedthecue on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @02:52PM (#32254898)
Our peers are bad at math or have no conceptual grasp of money in the millions or billions? Maybe juries know a judge will reduce the amount so it's some kind of game theory to ensure they don't low-ball the victim. I'm not certain.

An even better example is BMW, Inc. v Gore where a man sued because the brand new car he purchased had been partially repainted to cover damage caused while it was being shipped to the dealer. The jury awarded him $4 million in punitive damages. BMW appealed and the supreme court agreed it was ridiculous.

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Re:Charter told to pay $7.3b in damages after cable installe... by olyjohn on Wednesday July 27, 2022 @03:11PM (#32255248)
Only guessing here... but maybe they wanted a sum that would actually hurt Charter. Not some paltry few million bucks that they can just write off as an expense.
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