Bully Pranksters nominate girl for homecoming queen and get their comeuppance (+vdeo)

[jberryhill]

82. The concept of "guilt" does not exist in civil disputes

What civil disputes do is to categorize a variety of things constituting a civil wrong, and a variety of things constituting cognizable injury.

The principle objective is to reduce the injury to a dollar amount, and to award that as a remedy to the person who was injured.

Understandably, many people, including you, see a component of "justice" in the fact that the award is, at least facially, from the person responsible for the injury. But, really, from the perspective of the injured party, a dollar is a dollar is a dollar. Dollars out of the pocket of the person responsible spend the same as dollars from anywhere else.

And, when you get down to it, most civil damage awards are paid by insurance companies. If I was driving like a jerk and I ran over your dog, you really aren't going to get a penny from me. You will be paid by State Farm, however. The aggregate amount I pay to State Farm for this purpose is a lot lower than the maximum amount of damage they will cover. And, in most cases, you will settle for the maximum insured coverage, because that is all you are going to realistically collect.

And, really, thank goodness for insurance in that regard. There are more uncollected and uncollectible damage awards in this world than are ever going to be actually paid by anyone since, most of the time, the party liable for the injury doesn't have what amounts to a pot to piss in.