A Black man's life is apparently worth about the same as a White family's dog's

[JA]

Both Killed By Cops, Their Families Awarded Almost The Same Amount Of Money

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

You expected wrongful death awards to be decided in a consistent way across cases?

[Mr. Reactionary]

It says here that one was a settlement and the other was a jury award. This is an unnecessarily inflammatory headline.

[Virginiá]

That is pretty ridiculous, but I have to wonder, maybe each state has different levels of compensation they consider. It could be that MO is just notoriously cheap (i don't know if they are or not), and/or that Maryland is too generous. The best way to see how awful this is is to see how Missouri would have reacted if the dog case was in their state as well, or vice versa.

[Ban my account ffs!]

You expected wrongful death awards to be decided in a consistent way across cases?

First of all, they're not "awards".  Nobody is getting an "award" because their child was killed by a cop.  They are receiving settlements... which can be /awarded/ by a jury... or reached through mediation.

Words matter in sensitive cases like this.

And no.  Nobody expected there to be consistency here.  In fact, I am not surprised at all that Michael Brown's life was valued at a quarter million over a pet dog.

There should be consistency.  A minimum standard that awards significantly larger settlements to families of loved ones wrongfully killed by government officials.  Settlements above and beyond the minimum can then be decided on a case-by-case basis.

You're insufferably slippery, Shua.  I sometimes wonder if that tongue of yours has a fork in it.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

You expected wrongful death awards to be decided in a consistent way across cases?

First of all, they're not "awards".  Nobody is getting an "award" because their child was killed by a cop.  They are receiving settlements... which can be /awarded/ by a jury... or reached through mediation.

Words matter in sensitive cases like this.

And no.  Nobody expected there to be consistency here.  In fact, I am not surprised at all that Michael Brown's life was valued at a quarter million over a pet dog.

There should be consistency.  A minimum standard that awards significantly larger settlements to families of loved ones wrongfully killed by government officials.  Settlements above and beyond the minimum can then be decided on a case-by-case basis.

You're insufferably slippery, Shua.  I sometimes wonder if that tongue of yours has a fork in it.

So you think I invented our tort system, and you also think I am a snake.  Cool.

[Antonio the Sixth]

You expected wrongful death awards to be decided in a consistent way across cases?

Am I justified in seeing this as evidence of a fundamental flaw in common law systems? These things should have clear, uniform rules and not be left to a judge's discretion.

[Mr. Reactionary]

You expected wrongful death awards to be decided in a consistent way across cases?

Am I justified in seeing this as evidence of a fundamental flaw in common law systems? These things should have clear, uniform rules and not be left to a judge's discretion.

What judge? The parties mutually agreed to settle in the first example. Im not sure if Maryland has a reexamination clause in their state constitution akin to the one in the 7th amendment but generally judges have very little discretion in modifying jury awards and usually only if the jury awards more than the plaintiff asked for or if punitive damages are unconstitutionally excessive.

Again, this is comparing apples and kumquats.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

The state clearly settled because they knew a sympathetic jury could have easily given ten times that to Brown's family.

[Beet]

While disparate legal outcomes are common, a fundamental principle of any just legal system should be consistency. It's not just this case; some people get harsher sentences for drug possession than other people do for rape and murder. It is a flaw with the basic structure of the American legal system.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

The fundamental flaw with this argument is that you are failing to calculate the proper cost of dying adjustment.

[dead0man]

wait, there are still...ahem....."people" out there that think Michael Brown was innocent?  Geez, blinders much?

[vanguard96]

It says here that one was a settlement and the other was a jury award. This is an unnecessarily inflammatory headline.

Agree...

[Kingpoleon]

It says here that one was a settlement and the other was a jury award. This is an unnecessarily inflammatory headline.

Not only that, this article clearly doesn't understand the idea of federalism. If one state has a seizure of animals and $2,500 fine for animal abuse, and another state has a seizure of children and $2,500 fine for child abuse, no one should be stupid enough to say, "So an animal is worth as much as a child?"