The Econ. students in my university worked out that each life is worth about 2 millions
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Well, I think it's a fairly broadly-accepted tenet of philosophy that it's impossible to put any dollar value on human life.
In the cases of tobacco lawsuits, punitive damages are assessed, which have more to do with the degree of damage a judge feels is appropriate to inflict on the company rather than what Joe Smoker's life is materially worth.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Any time I smell cigarette smoke, I cough. That's uncomfortable. I never know when I might be unexpectedly subjected to such a situation. I think the tobacco companies should pay me billions of dollars, to compensate for my living in constant fear of unwanted pulmonary assault by their products.
I could never possibly win that case in court. And yet, people who use those products to harm themselves through their own stupidity get all that. Have they imposed a maximum IQ of 100 or so on jury selections, or what?
Posted by Jeff Kardde (Member # 411) on :
When tabacco companies use substances to increase the possibility of adicting someone to their product ... it ceases to be as simple as someone's own actions and becomes, "wait -- you were willing to get someone addicted to this substance -- despite the risk to their health -- to get yourself a steady customer?"
Posted by Daniel (Member # 453) on :
I suppose the Peeps company should start watching out for lawsuits against their use of sugar to sweeten their product then, huh?
[ June 07, 2001: Message edited by: Daniel ]
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm not saying the tobacco companies shouldn't be punished. Just that the other people shouldn't be rewarded. Rather than taking three billion dollars away from Philip Morris and giving it to some smoker, take three billion dollars away from Philip Morris and give it to some cancer research facility, or something.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Course that begs the curious question. How much of that several million DOES the smoker-victim get, and how much goes to the lawyers? Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
'it ceases to be as simple as someone's own actions and becomes, "wait -- you were willing to get someone addicted to this substance -- despite the risk to their health -- to get yourself a steady customer?"'
Yes. How dare they trick people by keeping the addictive nature of smoking a secret. The people who took it up had no idea. They thought smoking = healthy fun.
