11.17.2005

Insanity

"MIAMI (Reuters) - A jury has ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay $61 million to the parents of a 17-year-old who died when the Ford Explorer in which he was riding rolled over, a lawyer said on Thursday. " ......story here. The amazing thing is that all of the damages were "compensatory" damages. That is, damages to compensate the parents for what they lost. Since we aren't talking about lost income (as in the death of a spouse), the damages had to be for such things as pain and suffering, loss of companionship, etc. Amazing. There were no punitive damages awarded. That is, damages to "punish" Ford for doing something wrong.