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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 12, 2022

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There are a couple of things wrong with this.

First, suppose there are two victims, each of whom was subjected to exactly the same harassment. Victim A is a multimillionaire, and Victim B is unemployed. You seem to the saying that a $10 million emotional distress verdict for Victim A would be perfectly fine, but that a $10 million emotional distress verdict for Victim B would be be unreasonable. But, if, as you say, "compensation is meant to restore and repair the harm that was done to you," that makes no sense.

Second, let's suppose that I am a regular guy, and my family is harassed. As a result, my wife and five kids each attempt suicide. They all live, but are vegetables, and require around the clock care for the rest of their life expectancy, which, for my kids, is probably 80 years each. So, the jury awards me a verdict of about $50 million ($300/day for 80 years for each kid and 40 years for my wife). Would you say that I have been unjustly rewarded? I doubt it, because I have merely been made whole. Therefore, IF the verdict reflects the damages that the plaintiff has suffered, then it is irrelevant where the sum places him on the income distribution.

And, it seems to me that you agree with that; as you say, "When it's grievous bodily harm (say, you lose your hand, or get cancer) it may be different, because loss of life or quality of life is very hard to repair with money,." Well, yes, and so, too, is emotional distress from extreme harassment. So, it seems to me that your real objection is not that the verdict rendered them rich, but that the verdict did not accurately reflect the damages incurred. Perhaps you think that emotional damages are inherently less harmful than other damages, which is fine: Many people agree with that, and they might be right. But that is very different than your claim that the verdict is invalid because it results in the plaintiff becoming rich.

Similarly, when you say, " If you said the court should take all Jones' profits gained from his lies (let's imagine it is possible to figure it out) and distribute it equally between the victims - that would be a different thing," you are again implying that if that rendered the plaintiffs filthy rich, that would be ok. So, again, you seem to recognize that the outcome for the plaintiffs is not actually a relevant consideration, if the verdict is otherwise just (whether the justice flows from the fact that it accurately compensates the plaintiffs for the damages they suffered, or whether justice flows from delivering just deserts to the defendant).