MovieChat Forums > The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Discussion > Why are some people against lawsuits aft...

Why are some people against lawsuits after tragedy in family?

posted 9 years ago by fimb
5 replies | jump to latest

I've browsed through this board and some people are calling Nicole's father opportunistic and trying to profit financially off her daughter's misery.

September 11th Victim Compensation Fund - did you know that the families affected by the 9/11 attacks on the WTC got paid an average of $1.8 million per family. Over $7 billion were paid out from this fund. I am in no way saying that the money replaces the deaths of their loved ones. The funds came from the US government - taxpayers. They didn't come from the people responsible - al Queada.

There was also an additional separate September 11th Fund totaling over $500 million from donors that was also payed out.

[–] sanders_mike25 9 years ago

Because no amount of money can ever bring the dead back. The dead are still dead.

[–] Gambitt 8 years ago

Generally lawsuits provide for compensation for injury (losses) resulting from the incident. So the lawsuit would cover the cost of medical care (past and future) as well as lost earnings.

Americans seem to be under the impression that winning a personal injury lawsuit is like hitting the lottery. Nope. In many cases, your health insurance plan will take a large cut, your lawyer will take a large cut. Your award may be reduced if you were in part responsible. And even if the award is large enough to compensate you for your losses, often the defendant is under-insured and/or judgment proof. Successfully collecting money on someone who doesn't have assets is extremely difficult and inefficient.

[–] drjettrink 8 years ago

Because they are Canadian.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 8 years ago

Did the victims sue or was the compensation given without them suing?

I think there's nothing wrong in suing if there was indeed something specifically done wrong that caused someone to die, but to sue when no one is opportunistic.

And I'd think most people would want to grieve rather than spending all their time on a lawsuit. As another poster said, no amount of money is going to bring the dead back.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] lazarillo 7 years ago

I agree with the second poster. It's not that people are against lawsuits, but lawsuits are often a way of refusing to accept God's will--and a poor way at that. Lawyers (these kind of lawyers anyway) would like to get rid of all "force majeur" claims, but think for a moment about FORCE MAJEUR really is. It is literally the will of God.

Also, the film is Canadian, but the Russell Bank's book is American.

"Let be be finale of seem/ The only emperor is the Emperor of Ice Cream"