moving2vegas said:I'll respectfully respond.
First, you don't think employers carry insurance against employee lawsuits? They do. It's called Employment Practices Liability. It's insurance for things like age discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Does PrivatAir have it? I have no idea. That's not the point. The lawsuit sets a monetary precedence for future lawsuits and raises insurance rates, even outside of aviation.
Second, I agree you set the bar high because in all likelihood, you'll never see anything close to that amount. However, insurance companies don't deal in "you will most likely never see the full amount". They ( the insurance provider's) only see the fact that they may actually have to pay 53 million, and they adjust their rates accordingly.
Third, a lawsuit isn't going to change management. It's only going to make management more resentful toward the reflected party. Employee wages will drop to cover any added costs associated with a lawsuit. The only practical way to change management practices is by personnel change. Furthermore, if a lawyer can put a price on a dead child, I'm sure he could come up with a price for an old, fired pilot.
Look.... I'm not trying to be an A$$. I understand where your going with your post and I sympathize with this pilot. But come on...he's 63. A high estimate would be 10 more years of flying at best. Flying a G2 in socal at maybe 125K a year. He should've gotten 1.25 M, not 53 million. But we live in this ridiculous, lawsuit filled environment. Outrageous lawsuits like this, even if a fraction of the award is paid, only benefit one person and hurt the rest of us. I'm glad this guy will get something for a wrongful termination. However, let's all join the real world and realize what effect this has to our society.
I don't have an opinion on the merits of this law suit but I do suspect that the bulk of this award is in the form of punitive damages which are NEVER covered by insurance simply because of the award one sees here. One assumes that this company will file for BK very soon if they cannot get a settlement from the guy. BTW airlines are never covered for punitive damages either for the same reason.
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