Coca-Cola heir ordered to pay $900 million for sexual assault. He's supposedly worth $3.7 billion.

$100 million in actual, $800 million in punitive, so it'll likely be significantly reduced. Still, that's $900 million to one woman. Prior to this, he had a string of judgements against him to the tune of $80 million. He was apparently so defiant in court he was sanctioned $10k and thrown out multiple times.

Also exorbitant

(Not an apologist for Jones)

Absurdly too high. A life is worth 4-10 million depending on what government statistic you use. so rape is not worth 10x that. Juries are thinking too emotionally.

Ridiculous

What is up with juries these days?

Very literally a human life taken as a result of a gross negligent accident is worth around 5-10 million or so on average in the USA. Why are these non-death no dents regarded as worth so much more, depending only on the wealth of the perpetrator?

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Very literally a human life taken as a result of a gross negligent accident is worth around 5-10 million or so on average in the USA

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Say what now?

I'm a tort-reform guy and agree juries get emotional and crazy.

But ENTIRELY for the sake of argument, this guy worth 3.7B could commit 740 rapes at $5m a pop. Is "the standard going rate" really much of a deterrence to him?

Obviously the "book answer" is to go after him criminally and put him in jail. But the OJ case is a perfect example of how someone can get over on our "justice system" and civil suits are the remaining recourse. I'm pleased the Goldmans were able to prevail and hound OJ all his remaining days...

Have you seen the payouts on wrongful deaths/accidental deaths? Deaths caused by accident or negligence in a civil case? Sure there are exceptions that go really high, but the AVERAGE final ruling is in the high 7 figures to low 8 figures range. That is how much we as a society value a human life.

Yet, some of these "harm" civil suits where a person is harmed but still very much alive and reasonably physically and emotionally intact afterwards can greatly exceed that death average figure.

It's just weird.

First: a real stretch to try to paint this in alignment to the Jones cases.

Second: it sounds like he keeps getting hit with CIVIL suits, but if he's a serial rapist shouldn't he be hit with a CRIMINAL suit? (Again: assuming truth in the claim) Justice would be Jail. Not a payout.

As to the veracity of the claim(s): I become more skeptical of rape claims which begin "I went with him to his hotel room, but…" or "I was alone in his house / bed room when..."

MouthBQ98 said:

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What is up with juries these days?

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People are stupid and lawyers know how to find the stupidest for juries.

Yes, I have. Are you a civil lawyer? Claims handler?

What is the source of your number? Did you just make that up?


Because for gross negligence, that sounds low to me!

Doesn't surprise me if a jury awarded this. The stock of our country has been so tainted with the entitlement culture that all reason is lost and soon our country will be lost also.

RINO'S and dimcommies are a scourge on our nation. They created the conditions that foisted the entitlement culture on us.

So two different situations.
One where the defendant caused actual physical harm to someone from their direct actions.
Another where the defendant said stupid things and other people performed actions on their own accord.

Of course defendant #2 is deserving of twice the punitive judgement as well.

Someone needs to charge Alex Jones for making people hate him so much they make dumb arguments.

So if he is worth $3.7 billion, and people are only worth 5-10 million, then he can afford to assault hundreds of more people.

It's good to be rich.

rgvag11 said:

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So if he is worth $3.7 billion, and people are only worth 5-10 million, then he can afford to assault hundreds of more people.

It's good to be rich.

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to quote Chapelle

He rapes, but he also saves

and he saves more than he rapes

but he does rape

Just a ball park average of some payouts I have seen advertised locally for wrongful death civil suits. The lawyers are bragging about them so I figure they consider them successful outcomes. I'm pretty confident it is representative.

I haven't done a survey, and data analysis, no, which is why I am presenting a range based on observation locally over the last several years. You can take class actions and divide by the number of dead and get data figures on the value per life. It isn't that high as you might think.

As an example, a very highly publicized wrongful death suit was the OJ Simpson civil suit. 2 dead. Verdict with settlement was for $33 million. Each dead person was valued at 16.5 million, and that was for a celebrity case. Low 8 figures.

I assure your number is on the low side for gross negligence cases that reach a verdict.

I think these judgments are WAY too high, but your antecedectial observations aren't remotely close to seeing the real scope on these awards.

rgvag11 said:

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So if he is worth $3.7 billion, and people are only worth 5-10 million, then he can afford to assault hundreds of more people.

It's good to be rich.

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It is good to be rich. But a state prosecutor's office ALSO has very deep pockets, AND the ability to permanently separate a rich predator from ALL of his resources.

If the guy is guilty: sever him from ALL of his wealth and freedom for 25 years.

It's odd to me that in unemotional cases we're fine with civil verdicts based off of damages: which are far easier to pay for rich defendants, but somehow when the crime is emotionally charged the perspective flips from one of making the plaintiff whole to a desire to cut deep enough to cause pain to the defendant.

MouthBQ98 said:

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What is up with juries these days?

Very literally a human life taken as a result of a gross negligent accident is worth around 5-10 million or so on average in the USA. Why are these non-death no dents regarded as worth so much more, depending only on the wealth of the perpetrator?

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in (D) heavy jurisdictions, we're seeing 9 figure verdicts for wrongful death matters in the last few years. I've seen people ask for 10.

I'm sure we can find other cases to examine that aren't outliers and come up with an average. Or ask an AI bot to come up with a number.

Yes, but how much do they actually get once the dust settles? Again, I am saying juries are going more nuts with this up front but later on we see what the actual value is..

Respectfully, you are making conclusions Based on a very limited observation you made in one geographic area.

Was the OJ case even a "gross negligence accident"?

I'm not trying to be very categorically specific. I'm just saying we don't value a human life as much as we often believe we do on average, especially relative to cases of harm that are outliers?

My point is that you can't harm anyone more than making them dead, yet in dollar terms we often find a way to do that with jury awards. One persons death is often worth much less than another persons' coffee burns.

Im Gipper said:

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Respectfully, you are making conclusions Based on a very limited observation you made in one geographic area.

Was the OJ case even a "gross negligence accident"?

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What's the going rate for high dollar LA?

I work in insurance, and am not commenting on the wrongful death debate, but the big claims generally aren't wrongful death.

You have some cases where the right set of facts finds the right jury and dollars go nuts but the predictably big claims are the ones where the plaintiff barely survives, is permanently disabled, and makes a very sympathetic witness. Seven/eight figures in future medical expenses and a lifetime of pain and suffering as a quadriplegic is usually a more valuable case than killing a 50yr old with kids.

The dependents lose out on the persons future earnings, the medical bills up to death need to be paid, and grief is certainly worth something, but there is very little else a jury can assign value to.

That kind of makes sense.

Im Gipper said:

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Also exorbitant

(Not an apologist for Jones)

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Echo this sentiment:

My question is:
Gun Manufacturer payout $73M - made the weapon
Jones $1.5B Settlement - with $55M 10 yr bankruptcy payout offer - made callous inflammatory allegations

Lanza Family - Made Adam Lanza - $0 Settlement or payout for damages

Why is the Lanza family not being held liable; but a business and a talk show host are?

https://instagr.am/p/C7epfsyCJLk

Adding more to show that the judgment has nothing to do with fairness and is all about politics.

For criminal fraud that directly led to the deaths of 346 people, multi-billion-dollar corporation Boeing will be fined one fifth of what Alex Jones was ordered to pay for say something he later retracted and apologised for. https://t.co/B0R7EDQt2r pic.twitter.com/avoN74Yi6i

— RAW EGG NATIONALIST (@Babygravy9) July 8, 2024

Did Boeing put on a defense? Was there a verdict? Don't even know the total Boeing is paying?

This comparison is almost as terrible as the OP's! Try again!

Im Gipper said:

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Did Boeing put on a defense? Was there a verdict? Don't even know the total Boeing is paying?

This comparison is almost as terrible as the OP's! Try again!

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They killed a few whistleblowers and paid off the right politicians. I'd guess you could say the best defense is a good offense.

Why would I need to try again? Boeing killed 334 + 2 and got fined less Alex Jones for saying words and Trump for paying back a loan.

jrico2727 said:

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So two different situations.
One where the defendant caused actual physical harm to someone from their direct actions.
Another where the defendant said stupid things and other people performed actions on their own accord.

Of course defendant #2 is deserving of twice the punitive judgement as well.

Someone needs to charge Alex Jones for making people hate him so much they make dumb arguments.

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Now do Charles Manson.

Even if you dont put up a defense, the answer can't be "well, you didn't put up a defense so we are going to fine you all the dollars in the world"

Even a default judgment should have reasonable bounds

death penalty for rapists is well and good, but $1 billion in damages is just plain cruel!