[z3c0]

I really take issue with "settlements" of such a scale that don't equate to an admission of guilt. It's essentially buying a get of jail free card. If any individual were facing criminal charges, they would have to plea guilty before any easy-way-out is considered.

If it would have taken a billion dollars in legal fees to prove your innocence, I'm going to take a chance and suggest that these claims likely weren't "false".

[advisedwang]

There's no such thing as guilt in a civil suit though - even if it goes to trial there is no guilt or non-guilt verdict, there's just a balance of evidence. There's still no admission or presumption of guilt at the end of a trial.

[z3c0]

You're correct, I should have been more clear in my comparison to individuals facing criminal charges. I am critiquing that they get to squash this matter in such a way before the preponderance of evidence can occur to bring proper charges against them, which likely would have occurred if the lawsuit had been allowed to play out. Almost certainly, this settlement will come with some binding arbitration towards the accusants.

[hammock]

What's more, these "headline" settlement numbers usually go before a judge and get knocked down to 10-30% of what they originally were. The new (final) settlement number rarely makes the headlines

[missedthecue]

That's only for jury cases where the jury approves some huge number presented by the prosecutor. In this case, Biogen has agreed to pay the sum, as noted in the article.

[CoastalCoder]

The movie "Law Abiding Citizen" [0] gives voice to similar frustrations.

A very thought-provoking movie, but definitely not a good choice for "date night".

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Abiding_Citizen

[hollywood_court]

Great film with a bad ending. Jamie Foxx’s character was extremely unlikeable. He should have perished as well.

[calvinmorrison]

Our beloved former mayor has a cameo in the movie. Hopefully he used it as leverage to allow them to film in City Hall. He's seen in the court, holding the bible up to a person being sworn in. The first time I saw it I cackled. I do miss that Nutter.

[anigbrowl]

Right?! The law & economics people have a good analytical framework, but by looking at everything in abstract economic terms it arguably makes corruption fungible.

[daniel-cussen]

$30 billion fine, that's appropriate. Dude get the pricing right, government should get valuators for this, it's not a percentage of the profits, it's double or treble the damages.