Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin
>> It's not fair to go after deep pocket defendants... (paraphrased)
There is a good reason why in most states, we allow injured parties to go after the 'deep pockets.' The concept is called joint and severable liability, and I'm pretty sure most states still follow this, although there is a trend with tort reform to do away with this rule.
The idea behind this is that we, as a society, place a higher priority on making injured parties whole than we do protecting the liability/exposure of people who cause or have a hand in causing injuries.
How this would work is that the plaintiff sues everyone, gets the money from the easiest place to get money (from the corporation who probably has enough premises liability coverage to pay for everything). That corporation's insurance company here (McDonald's) would then in turn seek contribution from the employees.
Other systems discourage injured parties from suing in the first place because no one will represent someone who has a low likelihood of ever receiving anything other than a [worthless] judgment.
I think it's a fine system, and it's not perfect, but if we think the courts are supposed to make people whole, this is the only way folks will ever be made whole.
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It makes more sense to me to go after deep pockets defendants for the reasons you mention when there are real, somewhat objective damages or costs to care for the injured person although I still think it's more of a mistake than you do*. But in a case like the subject of this thread, what would it mean to make people whole? I have less faith than you do that a jury will make an appropriate determination.
*I think we might be better off having some sort of general insurance pool to cover real damages rather than expecting the nearest deep pocket to pay. I think there's societal harm in the belief that if you perceive yourself as injured, the best thing to do is magnify your injuries in a court case and seek payment from whomever you can get it from. But honestly, I don't sit around thinking about this a whole lot.
I do know there are a lot of auto accident suits that occur or escalate beyond settlement that seem to reflect a desire to get more money than one probably really deserves. While people need to be able to seek relief from their injuries, injuries shouldn't be regarded as a lottery ticket and I don't think the whole personal injury law phenomena is totally made up.
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