Comment State Law: The damages will probably be reduced. (Score 2, Informative) 256
Even if EchoStar fails in appeals court, the Damages will most likely be capped depending on State law. I think about 30 states have caps on punitive damages, VA being the most extreme - where punitive damages are caped at $350,000 even. Jury's aren't told about the caps. They come out of the court room thinking they really stuck it to the defendant, and as soon as they leave, the Judge reduces the number according to the state's law. (That one that applies is where the injury occurred)
Newspapers almost always report the non-capped number. Rarely if ever will we find out about the final judgment - sometimes billions of dollars less than what was initially proposed.
The Texas state law for Punitive Damage's(as explained in the context of the Merck/Vioxx trials) is a little confusing, and potentially dangerous to EchoStar since TiVo is claiming they have had $650 million in economic damages in the past nine years. But if TiVo really believed that was true, I suspect it would have sought much higher damages than they did.
Newspapers almost always report the non-capped number. Rarely if ever will we find out about the final judgment - sometimes billions of dollars less than what was initially proposed.
The Texas state law for Punitive Damage's(as explained in the context of the Merck/Vioxx trials) is a little confusing, and potentially dangerous to EchoStar since TiVo is claiming they have had $650 million in economic damages in the past nine years. But if TiVo really believed that was true, I suspect it would have sought much higher damages than they did.
