If I remember right, Posner thinks that the government should be the recipient of all punitive damage awards.
Justin Schwartz <jkschw at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>Government agencies can be forced to pay actual damages but not punitive
>>damages for
>>violating a landmark disabilities law, the court ruled.
>
>
>Why is punitive damages paid by government agencies a good thing? It is
>invariably a transfer of public tax monies to private pockets. Very much
>different from punitive damages paid by private parties, which usually have
>a re-distributive aspect.
>
>wojtek
>
The point is not compensation or redistribution but punishment, to say BAD state actor, Don't Do That! Sometimes it's the only thing that gets their attention.
jks
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