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No. You can be sued for the multi million dollars you got through fraud and made to pay every cent of that back to the widows and orphans. This decision just says that the jury can't then decide they don't like you and fine you 145 times the actual damages.

OK, now lets say your son is dating the ex-wife of a certain Hall of Fame running back. In a fit of jealousy, the football player kills you son and his girlfriend. A jury of retarded people lets the football player off the hook. CAn you still sue him for every cent he's got?

Yes. In your hypothetical, the parents of the two people killed by O.J. simpson can sue for damages in civil court. That is not connected to, or controlled by, any criminal case on the same facts.

Use the most common distinction that almost everyone has experience with, to explain the difference. Two cars collide at an intersection. Investigating police either cannt determine who was at fault, or charge one driver with failing to yield but that driver is found not guilty.

Does the lack of a criminal guilt finding prevent in any way any subsequent civil claim? Absolutely. Both drivers can sue the other, and have at it in civil court. That's the same distinction between O.J. (criminal) and O.J. (civil).

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, now up on UPI, and FR, "The Berlin Solution to the Baghdad Problem."

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

You know that the answer to your question is "yes." O.J. Simpson beat the rap in criminal court. But civil courts allow different evidence and have a lower standard of proof. So, O.J. was forced to take the stand in the civil case, and the civil jury found that he did kill those two people.

John / Billybob