So the question of what compensation or damages a family can recover is another wild card in these cases. I can’t predict it. What I can say is these are not class actions, and a lot of times I’ve seen the media get that wrong.
As a society, I think we tend to think it’s a class action, and class actions vary, but the most traditional class action that most of us think of is at the gas station — I know at one point they were charging for using your ATM, but there was no charge to them. There was a class action, I think I got a check for you know $9.75. Class actions we typically associate with that are usually smaller harms across a large number of people, and there are exceptions to that framework.
In that framework, you have a couple of main plaintiffs who can make decisions ultimately for the entire class. This is not that. This is mass tort. So these plaintiffs all have their own claims, they make their own decisions, but there are coordinated proceedings — there are general issues that get determined as a whole as opposed to case by case.
You know, until these trials are over, I can’t estimate what the compensation would be. I will say that when people ask me, “How much do you think families should be compensated?” I typically ask: do you have kids? And if so, how much would you charge for your child? How much would you sell three or four years of their life for? How much would you sell their life for?
The answer is there’s no amount of money. In a perfect world, I mean, there will never be any amount of money that can make up for this.
Legally Edited and Fact-Checked by:
Laura Marquez-Garrett (they/them), Attorney, SMVLC
