Grubman Case Prompts Lawsuit Claims Debate
July 25 -- New York City publicist Lizzie Grubman's July 7, incident, allegedly involving the back-end her father's Mercedes SUV and a crowd of 16, has prompted a mini-blizzard of coverage and commentary in the New York press.
As have the handful of lawsuits against her, reportedly totally more than $90 million, and much of that in punitive damages, for Grubman allegedly backing the vehicle into the crowd in anger, seriously injuring a few.
Grubman's criminal defense lawyer, Stephen Scaring, calls the amounts "ridiculous" and "in no way reasonably related to this accident."
"There's no way that she's ever going to be required to pay it," he says. "Its lawsuits like this that give trial lawyers a bad name."
While experience shows few plaintiffs ever recover the grand totals of the most exorbitant punitive damage claims, Grubman's case is fueling a the timelessly hot debate over whether plaintiffs should be allowed to file for such enormous amounts in the first place.
Few Fixed Limits
Tort reformers like to cite as excessive the famous New Mexico jury punitive award of $2.7 million to a woman who spilled hot McDonald's coffee on herself, and received third-degree burns, from a cup lacking a warning.
"In America today, in most states, there is no fixed limit in the amount of punitive damages, unlike in criminal law, where the fines are spelled out," says Victor Schwartz, general counsel for the American Tort Reform Association.
"[P]unitive damages in most jurisdictions are unlimited. And that's why you occasionally do get crazy verdicts like the McDonald's case," he says.
Trial lawyers, on the other hand, note McDonald's and other restaurants, as with many other cases involving major punitive awards, ended up changing their behavior, lowering their coffees' temperatures and putting warning labels on their cups.
Massive punitive awards are needed for deterring companies or individuals from intentional behavior that may harm or kill someone, says Carlton Carl, spokesman for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
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