And herein lies the problem - juries. We haven't paid enough attention to the jury system and how its run. Jurors are paid so little the majority of juries are composed of the poor, who generally see corporations an appropriate "mark" since they have so much money.
For openers, lets get jury compensation into the reality zone, with a mix of middle-class & up people on them and verdicts in these "victimhood" cases will change IMO.
I was on a jury last month that awarded a plaintiff over $5.5 million in punitive damages. This was no jury of poor people. These were all folks who appeared to be employed and with good jobs except for one housewife (and you assume she's got money since she's not employed). Education was also not an issue since the lawyers intentionally looked for people who could follow a rather convoluted scenario to understand the case.
Now, granted, this was not a product liability case (it was a case about a man who'd been owed $550,000 for fraud committed 16 years ago). But all (except me) saw nothing wrong with drawing a figure out of thin air and deciding this was "sending a message" to the defendants.
And, speaking of jurors not getting paid much, I haven't been paid anything. The check's been "in the mail" for over a month. I'm ready to start making a stink about it (media pressure, county commissioners, etc.) not because of the money but because it's not right to be forced to serve on a jury and then get stiffed by your government.