Just as there should be no arbitrary “cap” or limit upon profits, there should be no arbitrary “cap” or limits upon damage awards to injured victims. The bill of rights adopted by the founding fathers of our country provided that in suits at common law the right of trial by jury shall be preserved. This right of trial by jury was included in our constitution partly because the founding fathers believed that private citizens who heard the facts of a specific individual case would be in the best position to decide all aspects of that case fairly. However, in our country there now exist groups, usually funded by those who might have to pay a damage award, who would like to interfere with the jury system by placing arbitrary “caps” or limits upon damage awards. These groups often tend to characterize lawsuits as frivolous, injured victims as people who are undeserving of compensation, and their legal representatives as money hungry sharks who are against our free enterprise system.

The truth is that each year many people are injured by the negligence of others and deserve to be compensated for the losses they have suffered. Lawyers who represent injury victims are not against the free enterprise system and are certainly not anti-capitalist or against companies making large profits. In 2007 one oil company reported profits of 40.6 billion dollars ($40,600,000,000). If these profits are made honestly, and nothing has been presented which suggests they have not, there is certainly nothing wrong with this. There should be no cap or limitation on company profits which are earned honestly and in conformity with the law even if those profits might be breathtaking. However, if the driver of this oil company’s 18 wheel tanker is speeding, fails to pay attention, or otherwise negligent and kills or injures members of a family going home from church, is it fair for the total liability of that company to be limited to a total of about one hour of the profits that company makes, no matter how much suffering the injured victims must endure?

What is fair and reasonable damage in each particular case should be decided by the judge or jury charged with hearing all the facts and determining those damages, not some one-size-fits-all governmental regulation urged by lobbyists and passed by the friendly representatives to whom those lobbyists may have contributed substantial sums of money.