(submitted by Olie)
An Idaho Falls man was just awarded nearly $2 MILLION in a recent lawsuit. KPVI reported that Levon Babakhanian was just awarded $1.8 million in a lawsuit involving a traffic accident he was involved in three years ago. Babkhanian was on a motorcycle in Bonneville County when he ran into a dump truck that Babkhanian’s lawyer says failed to stop at a stop sign.
Mr. Babkhanian is said to have suffered several factures, and said: “It used to be especially [depressing] when my injuries were not healing as fast as I would have liked them to.”
Accidents can be tragic. They impact peoples lives. But lets take a look at the situation. Here you have an individual, who doesn’t likely have a college education; was on a motorcycle, (where you have to assume that he knew the risks of riding a motorcycle – i.e. you could get KILLED); and now is awarded almost $2 million.
Do you know what a 5% return on $2 million in the bank is? If you had $2 million, put it in the bank at 5% compound interest – you would bring in over $100,000 a year! At 7% interest, it would be over $144,000.00 a year, and if you could put it into an investment that gives you a 10% return, you’d be rolling in over $200,000.00 a year!
Accidents and injuries can be awful. But should someone be able to encounter a financial jackpot because of an injury? Mistakes happen. Accidents happen every day. Some people slip and fall on the ice and die, others get the flu from someone who didn’t cover their mouth when they cough and die. Others get into a traffic accident.
I believe that whoever is deemed the person at fault should be required to pay for medical bills. But something just doesn’t seem right about becoming an instant millionaire when someone else makes a mistake. And juries are doing it over and over again – remember the coffee is too hot McDonalds lawsuit that awarded almost $3 million? Lawsuits are the new “American Dream”. Everyone seems to want to blame someone else for everything that goes wrong in life, and with our court system, we can now cash in.
Maybe if people would take responsibility for themselves, and the risks they take in life when the step outside their door, we wouldn’t have such a clogged court system with so many people playing the lawsuit lottery.
I suggest:
- Take the financial awards away from the jury and put them in the hands of the judge.
- Get rid of punitive damages – or, at least, not allow the suing party or their attorney to be awarded punitive damages, instead require that they go to some supporting group at the determination of the judge or third party.
- Limit ambulance chasing attorney’s fees – don’t allow a percentage of the amount awarded by jury or settlement.
Final Thought:
One article notes that Babkhanian “was planning on going to school for nursing, but now has thought about changing plans to do something else.” If I all of the sudden fell into $1.8 million, I’d be looking into something else too.
Admin Note: By writing this post, Olie also supported Veterans via the Donation to Veterans for Your Post offer for Veterans Day. Thank you for your contribution Olie!
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
It happens all the time all over the country. Which is the main reason we have such a sue-happy country. It’s sad, but until the laws are changed, court lotto fever is here to stay.
How much does the IRS take from a case like this? 1/3 or 1/2? Considering the rates banks are (NOT) paying on savings or CD’s, I hope he has a good financial advisor. When one considers his taxes, what he owes his lawyer (probably 1/4-1/3 of the award) in addition to a few years of medical bills, I bet he doesn’t come out with very much in the very end. Regardless, if a county employee was at fault for his accident, how can he be faulted for filing suit?
What happens if someone sues regular joe (which the driver of the truck probably was) that will never see that amount of money in his lifetime? Is the truck driver simply indebted to give this person every penny he makes for the rest of his life? What happens to the truck driver’s ability to support his family?
I’m guessing that because he was driving a dump truck, he was probably working for a company that was sued. Does the company then go to the employee for compensation?
I’ve always wondered how that works.
well if any of you ever suffer injuries that are long lasting, because of someone else’s fault, please just take the medical care. Dont take anything for pain and suffering, and your conscience should be clear!!!:) Everyday that you will suffer pain, just know you did the right thing!!:)
I’m definitely not saying that there are people who need and deserve the settlements. I know a couple of them personally. I’m just curious where the money comes from.
I always wonder at the thought processes that go on in the brain that compares the hot coffee McDonalds spill to legitimate cases like this one. Or ones where doctors cut off the wrong limbs. Or where someone dies because of someones negligience. Or like the recent one here in Idaho Falls where a guy went in for simple wrist surgery and came out brain damaged and slightly mentally retarded because the medical staff gave him the wrong drug cocktail.
Sure there are bad verdicts and judgements but that doesn’t mean that all are. Do the people who want to limit damages just not care, are they just evil, or do they just not think?
I think the problem with medical lawsuits is that people go to the medical professional wanting help or care, but if a human error or mistake is made, then they want to sue, sue, sue.
people need to face the facts that there are risks in life. medical professionals will do the best they can, but humans are human. There are risks. And people should understand there is a chance of human error when they go to a medical professional.
People should take responsibility for the decisions they make. Its the person who selects the doctor after all.
But its more than that, people need to accept there are risks in life. I agree that accidents happen and it shouldn’t ruin someone financially or enrich someone else as a general rule.
If its a medical case where the results aren’t guaranteed then I agree that you shouldn’t necessarily be able to sue.
But when its a case where the doctor amputates the wrong leg or the nurse administers a dose 10,000 times greater than she should have then you should be able to sue. Preventable medical errors kill thousands of people every year.
I’m not talking about the guy who goes in for treatment that only has a 10% success rate and then sues when it doesn’t work. I’m talking about people who go in for routine treatments and are killed or maimed because of an avoidable mistake.
“avoidable mistakes”. All mistakes are avoidable. That’s why they’re called “mistakes”. If you do everything perfect in your job, let us all know. Otherwise, you should be able to be sued for your mistakes – the only difference is, doctors went into a career that helps and deals with people’s health, other people are human too, and still make mistakes, they just usually won’t get sued for millions when they make one.
I might add – there is definitely inherent risk in going in to get your leg amputated, or whenever you receive medication (any type of medication). The risk is, you could get the wrong leg amputated, or get the wrong dose of medication. It’s a risk. Find a good doctor who’ll do the best he can. If you choose an incompetent doctor, I say you have your own share of fault in that as well.
When will people learn there is risk, and accept the risk they are taking?
I’m not saying the hospital shouldn’t give free service to make it right the best they can, or even offer restitution best as possible for the loss, but I agree that making someone a millionaire who would have likely never had that kind of money without the mistake is just wrong.
And I agree, putative damages should be thrown out all together, or re-routed to another cause if awarded. The suing party should not have access to putative damages.
A few years ago, my son had to have knee surgery. We got a giggle when the nurse, during prep, wrote ‘this one’ on the knee destined for surgery, and ‘not this one, the other one’ on the other knee.
We laughed about it, but it was a really good idea.
The lady who was burned by the McDonald’s coffee suffered extensive 2nd degree burns to her genitals, which led to permanent scarring. With burns, it’s not how bad they are as much as how large they are.
So- how much is anyone’s sex life worth in addition to the pain?
Before the laws were changed so that juries could award damages, there were many things that were simply very dangerous- ladders, baby carriers, automobiles, furnaces, fabrics, furniture, paint, you name it…. the list goes on forever. We all live in a world full of safer products because of this damage ability, and it seems we’ve gotten too used to it. Lawsuits with damage that is decided by jury has made American made products the safest in the world.
Compare this to the Chinese products- just their drywall, a product invented to make homes more fireproof, has proven to be toxic as all getouts, and has ruined thousands of new homes all over the country. And none of those homeowners can sue the companies that made the stuff.
We can all argue specific cases to pieces, but the laws were made for very rational and good reasons. With every huge jury judgement, there is another where damages are much lower than asked for- sometimes, no damages are adjudged at all.
There are two equal sides to this coin. And I would much prefer having my request for damages to be settled by folks like me than having a judge look through an award book to settle my case. I think most of you would, too, if you were going to court for settlement.
I think it’s pathetic there are labels on everything these days regarding safety, all because people have no common sense these days.
1.8M may sound like a great big amount, however, he just lost 33% to his lawyer (BTW, I don’t practice personal injury law.), and forever after, his insurance providers will call his injuries “pre-existing conditions” – so that 1.8M has to pay for all his prior medical bills, and all future ones. the majority of the award appears to be for lost past and future income – sounds like he’s got lingering medical issues, and long-term health care gets expensive quick. with a broken pelvis, he was probably in the hospital for weeks at least.
http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11503348
as a side note – the dump truck driver likely will not be paying – his employer likely (as required by law) had collision insurance, and that insurance company will be the one to pay – they were the ones paying the defense lawyers, after all.
Without punitive damages what incentive is there for big companies to change bad behavior. It takes a huge verdict to get their attention. A $10,000 award isn’t going to make them change anything since its going to be vastly more expensive to fix the problem that led to the lawsuit.
What happened to personal responsibility in this country? People are no longer responsible for their idiotic behaviors and thats why there are so many frivolous lawsuits. I can understand malpractice suits, etc. but coffee spills and the like, not so much.
Hi, Guest….
What’s the difference between idiotic behavior and an accident? Do you think anyone would intentionally pour steaming hot coffee into their lap? Do you know anyone who would?
Rural Lawyer has a very valid point. If someone is working making a decent living and is injured in an accident through no fault of his own (and let’s be serious it could happen in a car just as well as a motorcycle) and is disabled to the point of no longer being able to work then how do they pay their day to day expenses? Apply for Medicaid? Chances are they won’t qualify and then if they do people will just turn up their noses and figure he is a deadbeat on purpose.
Say for arguments sake that the individual that was injured was making $30,000 a year. Not poverty but not rolling in the money. So we take the $1.3 million and take the attorney’s 33% off the top (approximately $429,000) that leaves him with $871,000. Now divide that remaining amount by his average $30,000 annual income and that would be his income for the next 29 years (approximately). However that doesn’t even TOUCH the amount that will go into medical expenses. With tens, if not hundreds, of thousands in medical expenses it will reduce this amount dramatically. If this is his case (which I don’t know for sure) then he will be lucky to make it to “retirement age” when he can hopefully claim social security (assuming there is any left). It seems like a huge amount of money, and I guess if he invests it properly it could give him a return, but that is generally not the case and they are still going to be fighting at the end of the day.
I am more suprised that you would start your article bashing his education then the guy being awarded millions. It is this poor journalism that keeps Idaho falls today unknown to so many. Olie there is a reason why you are writing here and not somewhere else. wow I am going to stick to localnews8.com and the post register online.
I have no problem with punitive damages. Some people and companies seriously deserve to pay dearly for their misdeeds. BUT there needs to be more stringent proof requirements on these judgments. Many cases are exaggerated beyond reason and many are just plain gold digging. I’ve been on a jury in a personal injury case and was completely disgusted by the crap that went on in that courtroom. The plaintiff was rear ended by another driver and claimed to have “permanent TMJ” that made his life miserable. This guy was not seriously injured (if at all) and even admitted he participated in sports like snowboarding since his accident. His only witnesses, both doctors, lied on the stand about the seriousness of this “injury”. We discovered that one doctor was basically a professional witness as a sideline job and had made thousands of dollars over several trials for his testimonies. Pretty much everything this guy said on the stand was a lie and the jury discussed this. We agreed he was a liar but the defendant still ended up with a settlement for tens of thousands of dollars. At least it wasn’t the quarter million he originally asked for.
Yes, they call those consulant doctors “sell outs” and they testify against their own profession all the time for big bucks.
Punitive damages can be necessary for several of the reasons pointed out…injuries may cause not only ongoing medical problems for which one could not set a “specific amount today”, plus there are other factors that could keep a victim from leading what would have been an ordinary life (inability to work, etc.).
My conention in this conversation has two main points…
1. Once a “reasonable award” has been determined by the courts, the remainder (or overage) of the amount awarded by the jury should be placed into the funding to help support Universal Health Coverage.
2. Attorneys shold only be able to erceive a percentage of the “reasonable award” determined by the court. For instance…
If a company is awarded 12 million dollars by a jury, but the court stipulates that 3.2 mil will be the “reasonable amount” awarded to the victim, the attorney will draw his fee from the 3.2 mil, with the remaining 8.8 mil to help pay the cost for Universal Coverage for those who can not afford to pay.
Better the money goes to a good cause than be wasted at the table sin Vegas.
Excellent idea, DJ! I think you’re spot on.
quote:
Here you have an individual … was on a motorcycle, (where you have to assume that he knew the risks of riding a motorcycle – i.e. you could get KILLED)
Hey you know the risks of stepping out of your house, you could get killed out there! So if I recklessly run you over, I shouldn’t be responsible.
Poor argument.
I think it’s a fair argument. Most people avoid motorcycles because they’re more dangerous. If they had been in a car, they likely would not have sustained the same level of injuries.
I think the point is, the person at fault should be held responsible to a degree, but the person who chose to take a motorcycle instead of a safer form of transportation should take some responsibility as well. Don’t you think?
Saying that someone who was on a motorcycle and in an accident should be culpable SIMPLY because he knew it was more dangerous than a regular car is akin to saying that anyone who drives to a town where there is an airport shold be culpable, EVEN IF HE IS AT NO FAULT IN THE ACCIDENT, because EVERYONE knows it is far more safe to fly than to drive.
Just doesn’t make sense….
The people who are at fault for the accident, period. No matter what you’re driving…