this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2026
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fuck this guy

top 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

State damage caps should be illegal. They exist only to protect the wealthy and corporations from the consequences of their actions.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 22 hours ago

Just Texas being Texas.

[–] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is for Texas only. Still owes 1.4 billion elsewhere.

[–] CarrierLost@infosec.pub 10 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Fun fact: Texas Governor Greg Abbott had his spine broken, resulting in his paralysis, while out jogging in his youth. He successfully sued and won millions in damages. Then campaigned on stopping “frivolous” lawsuits and helped institute that cap.

https://www.chron.com/politics/article/greg-abbott-tree-lawsuit-explained-19574621.php

Classic Republican “Fuck you, I got mine”.

[–] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social 3 points 15 hours ago

And he also bad mouths wind, solar, and battery storage. Even though they kept the texas grid from crashing this summer. He is just filth.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The cap is waived in those kinds of cases though

[–] CarrierLost@infosec.pub 2 points 14 hours ago

Looking back on the case 40 years later, Don Riddle, Abbott's personal injury lawyer at the time, agrees that Texas has changed.

"It would be next to impossible to get the kind of settlement we got," Riddle told Chron Monday.

They still made it very difficult. It may not be completely pulling the ladder up behind him, but he for sure knocked out a lot of rungs.

[–] ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com 82 points 1 day ago (4 children)

But the court slashed more than $45 million in additional punitive damages down to $1.5 million to comply with the state’s $750,000 cap for each plaintiff.

So what I hear is if you get more then $750K out of criminal acts per person wronged in TX then you can basically call the first 750 a cost of business and be let off to keep at it.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 47 points 1 day ago

It's like hitting your deductible. You gotta make the injury worth it.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Not... quiet. These are punitive damages - above and beyond the assessed monetary damages inflicted by Jones.

As a comparison, let's say you own a car. Your neighbor, in a fit of piqued, drops a cartoon anvil on the hood and totals it. The car costs you $30k to replace. And there's a second order cost on you for not having your own car that you can calculate out to be another $30k.

But the jury doesn't believe a $60k award is sufficient to justify the harm your neighbor caused. So they want to assess "punitive" addition costs in excess of the discrete monetary damage. They cannot assign a number bigger than $750k for this claim.

If your neighbor can come up with a way to make $750k + 30k + 30k of demolishing your car, then they have an economic incentive to do it.

But if the neighbor burns down your $800k house? Or drives a Killdozer through your $1.5M front office? Or puts a 757 through one of your twin towers? Then there's a much higher liability.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

If your neighbor can come up with a way to make $750k + 30k + 30k of demolishing your car, *then* they have an economic incentive to do it.

Kalshi has entered the chat

[–] ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Yeah, I suppose I'm going with the actual losses being an assumed cost too. I guess a simple way might be steal $1B, make $1M off it before being brought to court, pay back the $1B and $750K punitive amount, walk off with $250K profit.

Unless they allow someone to collect for potential gains missed due to the theft and provide a suitable deterrent in punitive amounts it basically comes down to paying back the raw losses and up to $750K

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

This is a great example where th punitive damages are the inportant part. I’m sure they argued there were no direct monetary damage and how do upsi quantify such a thing anyway.

The analogy is what if someone vandalized your car and came back every night to keep vandalizing it, and accosted you as a liar in public, and attacked your employer to get you fired, and told everyone they could that you were the problem? Now imagine it wasn’t a car but your child that you lost

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I guess a simple way might be steal $1B, make $1M off it

The courts generally recognize the time-value of money. If you steal $1 and make $.10 on it, then you've deprived the person you stole from of the same ROI. In fact, you've demonstrated the deprived returns by investing it.

Unless they allow someone to collect for potential gains

So, back to the car example. If you deprive someone of a car and that costs them their job, you're liable for the wages they lost when they lost their job.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago

There are conditions where the cap is waived and this doesn't meet them

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Welcome to Texas

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

750k is the civil limit, not criminal

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago

Lawsuits are civil cases.

[–] FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Frankly this doesn’t help Jones, he still owes over a billion from the other case.

This just hurts the Texas plaintiffs who were already getting shafted by not being party to the larger judgement.

[–] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 18 points 1 day ago

Texas legislators hurting Texans is the most Texas thing that could happen.

[–] workerONE@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm really enjoying the new infowars content. I hope that Tim highdecker gets syringed and is resurrected.

[–] Anti_Iridium@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

After buying the Infowars Elf T-Shirt i'm extremely worried about The Onion legal team raiding my house and breaking my vase. I've only got a handful, and they might break the family heirloom one, so I should probably buy more decoys to play it safe.

[–] BassTurd@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

I watched half of the first episode, and while I like what they're doing, I can't watch it. It's satire, but it's too good, and it kinda tickles my trigger reflex. I'm glad people are watching and supporting though. I want it to be successful.

[–] frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Time to harass some judges, they're discounting punishments for insane sociopaths.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

citing state laws that limit lawsuit damages.

How about reading the article and getting angry at the laws, not the judges following it?

[–] EmilieEasie@fedinsfw.app 6 points 1 day ago

Does that mean his clone has to pay it?

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 0 points 1 day ago

Much more reasonable with it following the legal damages limit now

[–] sculptor0725@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 day ago

Stop giving him attention