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Please excuse this reply if it is too long. I am an attorney and I am frequently told these “ain’t it a shame” stories. I have a suggestion. When ever you are told such a story, ask for the case citation. This would be something like Smith v. Jones, 351 SE2d 467. This will allow anyone to access the case record. The middle designation is the reporter series in which the case is reported. In the example it would be the South Eastern Reporter, 2nd series. The first number tells what volume, in the example, volume 351. The last number, 467, is the page number. You can still find most cases if you have only both parties names and the state and date of decision. Most large city libraries and all court libraries have these reporters. If the story teller cannot give you this information, treat it as a crock.
2nd lecture: Legal theory. In our legal system, the jury decides the facts of the case,including the amount of damages;the judge decides what law applies. The attorneys present the facts to the jury and argue the applicable laws to the judge. In deciding the amount of the damages, the jury relies on the dollar value presented in evidence. A thousand years ago everyone had a value set on his-her life, their “weregeld”. If you were a free man it was 200 shillings. If a lord, more. If a serf, less. If you were killed by someone’s negilgence, this is what they owed your family. We still do this, only juries decide what you were worth because it is an issue of fact. Brain surgeons and pretty little girls are worth more than street people and ugly juvenile delinquents. This is where punitive damages come in. In addition to Laws, you and I follow many ethical precepts given to us by our religions and parents. Corporations have only one ethic they follow in addition to the laws of man. That single ethic is: “Thou shalt make a profit” Thus, if the potential profit is greater than your “weregeld” as decided by an average jury, the profitable, but dangerous, drug will go on the market. Punitive damages are designed to discourage future corporate lapses in man’s ethics, even if they follow their own profit ethic, by removing the net profit gained. If our government removes the punitive damages, and they remove or do not prosecute, regulations, there is nothing to discourage single minded pursuit of the “profit ethic”. Also remember, just because a jury finds damages in a large amount, it does not mean that is what was actually paid. The trial judge or an appellate court can, and frequently does, reduce the judgment. That happened in the McDonalds “coffee case”.