I think GP is referring to Florida’s generous homestead exception, which allows a debtor to keep his/her home (regardless of opulence) despite creditors’ claims.
Maybe for cases like this that involve literally millions of dollars, but it really helps normal people from becoming homeless if they fall on hard times for whatever reason.
Source: Family members went through bankruptcy in Florida and were able to get back on their feet much quicker because their house couldn't be seized.
Most states have a homestead exemption. But most states also have a limit on the value of that homestead.
Sure, you shouldn't lose your reasonable family home over debt. But that doesn't mean people like OJ Simpson should be able to keep their multi million dollar estates even though they have filed for bankruptcy.
And even in this case. Does Anthony Levandowski deserve to become homeless and destitute for what he did? No.
This is going to hurt him far, far more than what he did could ever have hurt Google. Yeah, maybe Google would have lost more than this on paper, but definitely not in terms of marginal utility. Google remains an extremely wealthy and powerful company and now Anthony is broke.
Remember you may be able to claim an exemption on your $5m estate but you need to pay the taxes and electric bill and it’s hard to do that when up to 75% of anything you make beyond minimum wage is garnished (I don’t think any state even allows this much but maybe). To be fair some states only allow up to 25%. And some states you cannot garnish at all, you can only levy bank accounts