99% of the lawsuits in the United States initiated by scum like this would never happen if the US civil judicial system didn't allow litigators to take a percentage of the judgement.
In Canada, lawyers are generally not permitted to take a contingency fee (i.e., you only get paid if you win, and then you get a percentage of the damages). The result is that (a) plaintiffs don't start lawsuits that don't have a reasonable chance of success and (b) the lawyers don't have dollar signs in their eyes. Our civil judgements are also capped to a large extent (i.e., no $1 billion jury awards).
What always amuses me about lawsuits like this is that people have no concept of the cost that it imposes on the rest of society. Assume that the lawsuit is successful against Boeing...
1. Boeing's insurance would likely cover a good portion of the judgement. Result - Boeing's insurance premiums go up, the cost of an aircraft goes up, the cost to the airline of buying the aircraft goes up, the cost of a ticket goes up. And, by the way, the cost of insurance to everyone else who has insurance with the same insurance company goes up.
2. If Boeing's insurance doesn't cover the claim, the result is anywhere from an increased cost to the purchaser of an aircraft (see #1 above) to Boeing needing to cut costs. Result - Workers at Boeing may be layed off, layed off workers don't contribute to society or pay taxes, the rest of the working population needs to take up the slack, etc.
I say just add the amount of the lawsuit to Dubya's $87 billion as an additional cost of the war on terror...but the lawyers don't get a penny.
