>Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 16:51:29 -0400
>From: Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu>
>Subject: Re: more rollback of ADA
>>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
>
Who was it that said of the U.S. south that instead of government regulation
we have civil litigation? I suppose the general thought is that punitive
damages would make some bureaucrat sweat their budget and change their
policy. In the case of the $4.4 mil the FBI and Oakland police are paying
out to Judi Bari's estate & Daryl Cherney, the benefit was mostly from what
was revealed in discovery, since the FBI's general mission is unlikely to
change due to these unanticipated costs. Still, nice to know you can sue the
FBI and win, since everyone says you can't.
Jenny Brown Co-chair, Alachua County Labor Party Gainesville, Florida