subject: The Effects Of High-profile Personal Injury Lawsuits [print this page] Personal injury lawsuits occur every day and have few effects on more than the victim, plaintiff, and lawyers involved. High-profile personal injury lawsuits, however, often affect many more than just those involved in the initial suit, including shareholders, stakeholders, and the general public. For this reason, high-profile lawsuits can prove much more harmful to the defendants reputation and financial well-being, as punitive damages are likely to be much higher with high-profile defendants.
A good example of such a case is a recent personal injury lawsuit against a popular wholesale warehouse; employees accused the warehouse of false imprisonment and sought $50 million in damages. According to employees, the warehouse would not let employees leave the premises for 15 minute intervals, refusing to provide compensation to employees during this time. Because the warehouse is a popular shopping destination across the country, the suit was widely reported, resulting in damages to its reputation.
High-profile personal injury lawsuits have become common among airlines as well. Typically such a suit will occur if a plane crashes, or is involved in any other type of accident in which injury occurs to passengers. Such events have caused many airlines to lose millions of dollars in damages and immeasurable harm to their reputations.
Medical malpractice suits often become high-profile personal injury suits as well. A medical malpractice suit generally occurs when a physician or medical facility causes personal injury. When high-profile doctors are accused of medical malpractice they usually face hefty damages to pay, a damaged reputation, and sometimes the revocation of their medical licenses.
The most common high-profile personal injury lawsuits are those in which large corporations are involved. Victims are more willing to pursue larger companies because the compensation for damages is usually much higher than with small civil suits. Additionally, more large companies are willing to settle a suit outside of court in order to keep the details out of the mainstream media because the potential long term damage to the company is a much greater risk.
