Stardate 20010920.0848 (On Screen): President Bush has proposed a much more restricted bailout for the airlines. The one which was defeated last month was budgeted for upwards of $20 billion, which was pretty extreme. This one is quite a lot less, and it does indeed include a provision to help shelter the airlines against liability lawsuits, which is important. One aspect of the bill would be to prevent punitive damages, which I think is vital here. What we
don't need is to make a whole bunch of liability lawyers rich. The point of punitive damages is to punish someone for gross negligence so as to deter them from doing the same again; I hardly think that the airlines need that incentive. Trial lawyers are worried about this; tough shit. There's a war on, in case you haven't noticed.
(discussion in progress)
