Firstly, this was a horrible accident and my deepest sympathy go to the injured party for the trauma he has experienced and the loss of quality of life he will have to live with for the rest of his life. This is obviously terrible and I hope his portion of the settlement will restore some happiness to his life. However, I don't think $100M will make significant difference to having a more modest, but secure income for the rest of his life and sufficient funds to cover his on going medical costs. The $100M isn't about his needs, its about the commission driven lawyers pursuing a large corporate entity and it is largely a US problem.
The problem in the US is multi-faceted, but the three biggest issues are:
(a) Elected state court judges, whose positions depend in being elected by the populous. (You can infer for yourself how this might affect their judgements) I don't know if this hearing was a state court or federal court matter.
(b) Punitive Damages; in the US settlements not only provide costs to cover lost income and compensation for the victim, but all PUNISH the company deemed to have liability for the loss.
(c) No-win, no-fee lawyers on big commission, typically 30-40%. I could tell you some real horror stories about this...but obviously not on a public forum!
In 1978 the US alone produced 17,811 new light aircraft, this is down to around 2,000 now, thanks largely to the lawyers rendering the light end of the industry untenable.
If you wander why light aircraft still use 1950's technology, blame the lawyers and settlements like this, 30-40% of which would have gone to the lawyers. By 1985 the cost of insurance or pay outs was larger than the cost of the aircraft itself for smaller aircraft!
If you want to know why a Cessna 172 costed $80K (in todays money) in 1978 and around $350K today for exactly the same aircraft blame the lawyers.
In this industry we all understand that we take a degree of calculated risk in flying or operating in helicopters. If you don't want to be at risk of a crash, fly a desk, its a matter of personal choice. What has happened in the states, is that some well-meaning laws which apply to all areas of life and industry have had some very severe unintended consequences on industries that involve a degree of risk of harm that its operatives have been prepared to take in return for the lifestyle or rewards on offer. These laws have been exploited by commission hungry lawyers on the hunt for the next big corporate to sue for a big share of a telephone number pay out.
#brokensystem
The net result of this is that the USA is no loner a viable place to produce affordable light aircraft as every US aircraft carries with it a huge product liability cost that the rest of the world does not have to the same extent.
CRAN
