No doubt a monetary settlement was indicated here. But $485 million?
Half a billion seems like a lot to me too. Rio Arriba county in NM is like Mississippi. A plaintiff attorney heaven. A corrupt grifting county.
Who dreams up this crap? Why not make it $50 trillion?
"corporate negligence"
I'll bet some big corporate insurance policy is involved and we're all going to pay for this in our insurance premiums.