Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
The actions from the jury seem to be punitive against the defendant, you know, versus compensatory for the victim.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County, NY
In many instances, punitive damage is something that that that a plaintiff may have access to, and that is for the purposes, and a jury is charged with it. When punitive damages are brought before a jury, they’re charged with saying, Hey, if you think that this person should be punished or this company should be punished for their behavior, then make a punitive damages award because that’s supposed to act as a deterrent to behavior that’s similar to that in the future. I think that if you’re talking about an actual case, it’s very easy to hear a third-party report.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Be an armchair person sitting here, right?
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County, NY
It’s very simple. You’re not sitting in the seat that the juror is sitting in, hearing the facts that the juror is hearing, and hearing the law that the jury is hearing, and looking at the person who is probably, you know, because it was a famous case going back about 30 years, involving a very famous fast food restaurant that…
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
The McDonald’s case, the coffee McDonald’s.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County, NY
What we didn’t know is that this woman who did, yes, coffee spilled on her lap, but she suffered major third-degree burns involving skin grafts.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
I heard there were many, many surgeries, and that is not mentioned, you know, of course, purposely.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County, NY
I think that there was a reason why it was the story came out the way that it came out. I think that McDonald’s probably sourced the story. At least that’s my guess. Or maybe the journalist who wrote it didn’t get a complete picture of exactly what happened.
So, but really more to the point is when a jury makes an award and a jury is maybe outraged by something, and you’re referring specifically to punitive damages, they’ve seen information and have had access to records and have listened to stories that, let’s face it, by the time we hear it in the news, we didn’t hear everything that they heard, and it’s very difficult to all of a sudden decide that we’re going to substitute our judgment for theirs and somehow talk down to what their reward was or what their judgment was. We weren’t in that place at the same time.
By the way, the concern that you’re expressing is what if there’s a runaway jury, and do I believe that there are runaway juries? Of course, but we do have a system in place to correct that. So, you can appeal that case. You can get, in many instances, reconsideration. You can get a jury verdict thrown out if it seems so unreasonable. And most states have multiple levels of appellate courts that can stand in the judgment of that jury and correct it.
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