Bottom line, this is taxation by alternative means. The trial lawyers get their fee; but the states get a large portion that they can spend as they wish. Note well what happened to the tobacco settlement - it went into state coffers, and how it is being spent, nobody knows.
As state budgets get tighter, and the public resists overt tax increases, you may indeed expect more taxation by civil suit.
I'm not sure about red meat. There is no big deep-pocketed company for the lawyer.