In the news today an article detailing an interesting lawsuit concerning CBS's 60 Minutes and a 2 former jury members.
Here's the setup:
60 Minutes aired a report on a Mississippi's Jefferson County; an area said to be notorious for rewarding victims with multi-million dollar settlements.
Though this behavior might be more expected from a Californian county located on the West Coast, but this little hamlet is getting a reputation for dolling out what 60 Minutes called "jackpot justice."
Roughly a month after the program aired, 2 members of 2 different juries are suing 60 Minutes as well as a local newspaper owner for, get this, SIX BILLION DOLLARS!
That's a 6 with nine 0's behind it!
Breaking it down, they say they're calling for $597 million in actual damages and $5.9 billion in punitive damages.
This is crazy, and the details get nuttier!
The two men said they have been defamed by the charge they are giving ridiculous amounts of money away.
Coincidentally, both men sat on juries that awarded $150 million dollars (one in an asbestos case, one in a diet pill [Redux] case). While not debating the justice in the amounts doled out to the victims, these two seem to be proving the charge they are attempting to refute with their actions.
During the contested 60 Minutes broadcast, Beau Strittman, a woman who had once won a nonjury settlement in a lawsuit over the obesity drug Redux, was interviewed. She said juries "awarded these people this money because they felt as if they were going to get a cut off of it."
Strittman has since said he was joking and thought he was off camera when he made the comment.
Sure you were joking Mr. Strittman, right. I'm sure people always joke about the intentions of juries.
This totally cracks me up.
Americans like to make fun of lawyers, or at least point out the stupid things we do (I blame it on the OJ Simpson trial, mainly), but I think he's doing the standard routine of denial since he got caught.
We've all heard the some make the claim that THE COMMENT wasn't supposed to be heard, and even if it was, THE COMMENT shouldn't have been taken seriously, so let's just pretend THE COMMENT was never said. Can't we? Aw man....
I do admit that the newspaper man included in the suit, Wyatt Emmerich, did give some sound bites that were pretty harsh.
Quote: "The African-Americans feel like it's payback for disenfranchisement. And the rednecks, shall we say, it's like, `Hey, you know, get back at' -- revenge for the Civil War. And it's very easy to weave this racial conflict and this class conflict into a big money pot for the attorneys."
He has since said his remarks were aimed at the jury system in general and not specifically Jefferson County. I personally think this is more of the backpedaling routine we saw with the CBS interviewee.
Still, I don't believe this is a story that contained malice and was pointedly aimed at destroying the jury members' reputations. I wish people would stop denouncing people for telling the truth and labeling it an attack.
Still I have to say “Six Billion Dollars? C’mon!”
According to the Bill Gates Net Worth Page, last updated August 1, 2002, Uncle Moneybags is worth $33.92 Billion. We're taking 1/6 of the person deemed Richest Man in the World for 8 consecutive years (1995-2002, Forbes Magazine).
In Summary...
The former jurors are idiots whose wild claims are going to get them more of the disrespect they say they want to avoid, CBS is being criticized for simply presenting facts (and people making comments) to the nation at large, and somewhere, there's a very happy law firm knowing they get paid well whether or not their clients win are not.
Project losers: Two former Mississippi residents who won't have to worry about jury duty ever again.
Probable winners: Journalists, a bunch of lawyers, and the greater public for getting a kick out of such a crazy story that could only develop under the United State's legal and media systems.
Bottom Line: God bless America!
