Fuck Abbott. He got a huge settlement from a lawsuit and now is in favor of limiting to same kind of lawsuits he won that helped him get to where he is.
Originally Posted by WTF
Not quite.
How much of Abbott's settlement could be attributed to actual medical damages and economic damages (lost income) and how much would be attributed to pain and suffering?
You don't know.
TX law doesn't limit actual damages (i.e., medical bills, lost income, etc.). It limits the nebulous unprovable amounts (emotion suffering, etc.).
Tort lawyers used the threat of idiot juries handing out millions of dollars in pain and suffering awards for simple broken arms, minor burns, and other relatively minor injuries to extract big settlements, even though the actual medical bills and lost income might only have been $50K or $100K.
Someone who suffered devastating injuries like Abbott would still get millions to compensate for a lifetime of medical care, lost income, physical therapy, building costs to make his house handicapped friendly, etc.