Can you hear that sound? It's the sound of projects that were unprofitable yesterday being reevaluated today. It's the sound of Doctors being sucked back into black holes that had forced them out due to unmanageable malpractice insurance rates. It's the sound of employees and retirees purchasing medications that they needed but couldn't afford due to spiraling pharmaceutical liability insurance costs. It's the sound of the air leaking out of the tires of the socialist medicare drug coverage wagon as the artificial pressure on drug prices is removed. And its the sound of a bunch of shysters sharpening their knives to cut each other up because the pickins just got a whole lot slimmer.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA HA HA!!!
You people are ridiculous...trial lawyers have suffered a huge blow? Do you guys really believe this?
First, this case only reaffirms the law since 1996. It does not add anything.
Second, it only concerns punitive damages. Punitive damages are rarely awarded, and it is the even rarer case where they are awarded in an amount like 145 times compensatory damages. No plaintiff attorney goes into a case expecting to get rich on punitives. If anything, punitives are sought to use as a bargaining chip when the defendant appeals the verdict, or to effect a settlement prior to trial.
Third, ten times compensatory damages is still a good deal of money.
Trust me, to a great majority of lawyers and businesses, this case means little. Of course, I'm sure that State Farm is happy, as well as their lawyers that obviously screwed up the trial....
"It's the sound of Doctors being sucked back into black holes that had forced them out due to unmanageable malpractice insurance rates."
Punitive damages are so rarely awarded in malpractice cases that the rate is zero, or as close to 0% as you can get.
Medical malpractice rates are high because medicine has improved to the point that it is now possible for injured patients to survive for decades in situations of extreme expense, e.g., around the clock nursing care.