[Kevin]

Tom, I think the point of my post was that if organizations are proactive and just essentially smart, they can for the most part avoid taking on too much liability.

Sure anyone can sue for anything (and scarily enough, win sometimes). However, the huge awards initially granted are nearly always a fraction of what the party actually recieves due to Judges, etc. whittling it down to something reasonable.

It sucks that they actually pulled that one out as a bargaining chip. It would be even worse to see it again. I hope this is a wakeup call, but just as with any organization or individual in denial, I'm afraid it'll take something pretty cataclysmic to get people to change their behavior.