Regardless of how you may feel about this particular case, it is litigation that has brought many of the safety improvements that we see in A/C's today, the modern seatbelt, fire retardant materials, the new space requirement between cabinets near emergency exits, floor vents for pressure release in case of a rapid D, the required emergency rations and design of slides/rafts, the list goes on and on. I wish that it didn't have to be a required part of the learning process but regrettably, history has shown that improvements only come by force! The industry is very reluctant to make any changes on its own and they have proved over and over again that a certain amount of deaths are acceptable as part of the business.
