In article hjmKc.118690$XM6.23791@attbi_s53, Robert Bates wrote:
person's lifetime for death or a percentage of loss due to injury. It's
obvious to most that Billy Joe Jim Bob who works at McDonalds for $7.00/hr
is not worth $10M when his potential income is calculated for his lifespan.

Not necessarily; I'm sure quite a few people worth $10M now once worked
at fast food restaurants as a teenager.

The problem with the amounts of money involved in lawsuits doesn't seem
to be the damages part, it seems to be the punitive part. The plaintiff
should only receive the money from the actual damages award - the
punitive part should be treated as a fine, or possibly held in trust -
where neither the lawyer nor the plaintiff gets it. Removing the chance
of making $millions from a lawsuit will deter fishing expeditions.

I have a confession to make - our family has sued someone. When I was
15, I was opening a door normally at school, but the glass (which didn't
meet building code) broke and did me a very serious injury [0]. My mother
had to take three months off work to take me into hospital every day for
3 hours of physiotherapy. However, the rewards was entirely consistent
with our loss - GBP 7,500 in 1987 money (probably about GBP 9000 - or
roughly US$12000 these days) - which covered unpaid time off work, fuel and
other expenses. I'm sure the same case in the USA would have
resulted in at lest $1M in damages. Fix the problem of excessive awards,
and the problem of frivolous lawsuits goes away.

[0] The glass broke and sliced through my wrist to the bone - all flexor
tendons cut, both arteries cut (lots of blood), several other cuts as
the glass fell out of the door frame. It required almost 7 hours of
microsurgery to fix in a specialist hospital, followed by 3 hours of
physiotherapy 3 hours per day, five days per week for 3 months.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"