Jurors spent three weeks on this. I mean, they gave up a lot of personal time, a lot of work and everything to give me this award, but because of the caps, I can't get it. Jeffrey Hyman says the reforms weren't needed in the first place. There are some large jury verdicts. That's exactly what happened in the McDonald's coffee case.
Some consumer advocates are delighted to see the tort reform laws dismantled.
They credit high jury awards for improving everything from children's car seats to fuel tank design. Joan Claybrook is President of Public Citizen. Damage awards are often given because a company has ignored, refused to change, been unwilling to help the consumers that they've harmed, and this isn't the first consumer, usually, that has been harmed. It's usually the 500th consumer that's been harmed. And that's what really irritates.