In Billionaires And Bagmen Sean Cogan and his friends talk about how many of our rights as citizens have been systematically taken by the super-rich and their handpicked legislators, regulators and judicial appointees.  This is why they  put their initiative on the ballot to make Fairview independent.

A clear example of the corporations affecting the law is the limitation on Punitive Damages.

The concept of punitive damages grew out of a problem that worried big corporations because losses due to negligence could adversely affect their bottom line.  For companies reaping massive profits selling products that they know are dangerous for the consumer,  pulling it off the market because of a few hundred personal injury lawsuits doesn’t make financial sense. It would be more profitable to pay the personal injury lawsuits  and get on with business.

To get their attention and actually make them remove this product from the market, the company could be hit with punitive damages (a big, big fine) based on what a jury concludes it would take to reduce the company’s profitability from the product. Simple idea. It’s called deterrence: prevent the company for selling their cancer-causing product anymore.  Sounds like a good idea, right?

“No” said the multinational interests’ appointed Supreme Court. That “Violates the Due Process rights” of the poor corporations and the CEOs who never thought they would get caught.  As recently as 2010, the Supreme Court put lower courts on notice that using punitive damages to directly punish the defendant (the multinational corporations and super-rich who run them) for harm to non-parties in the lawsuit violates due process.

Now a jury may no longer aim to deter a defendant based on public harm when calculating the size of an award. Really!

Never mind that the SOBs who are peddling these fatal products should be doing time in San Quentin rather than just forking over a portion of their blood money in punitive damages…and maybe even being forced to pull the products off the market so it doesn’t kill anyone else….

San Quentin??  No. That’s that’s for real killers. Not corporate killers…

Next in our series…Ahh. Citizens United…

 

Be sure to read Part 1 of this series:  How Decisions by Billionaires and Bagmen Affect Your Rights and Order Your Copy of Billionaires and Bagmen today! It’s a Must Read for anyone who cares about this country and has had ENOUGH!