Justice the American way . The rich get to just buy their way out of trial

[Ocelot II]

19. But that's not the point. The point was how much money Dominion needed

to be fully compensated for the harm to its business. It doesn't matter how rich a defendant might be; it matters how much harm the plaintiff has suffered. If Bill Gates ran over me with his car and broke my leg, I wouldn't be entitled to 3.7% of his net worth of $110B; I'd be entitled to enough money to pay my medical bills, loss of income, and other incidental damages. Or if I owned a coffee shop across the street from a Starbucks and Starbucks disparaged my coffee shop, causing me to lose customers and $50,000 in income, I could recover $50,000 to compensate me for my lost business, not 3.7% of Starbuck's net worth of $121.37B. The purpose of a civil lawsuit is to compel the defendant to pay the injured plaintiff an amount sufficient to compensate them for the harm the defendant caused. Sometimes punitive damages can be awarded, but in many states the amount is capped or can be reduced on appeal, because even those damages are not intended to ruin the defendant, just to deter them from future mischief.