In my opinion, they turn a blind eye because for the most part they are very, very reactive--not proactive or creative--in thinking up theories, etc. Any new theory is generally developed by private actors because private attorneys are usually much more competent, smarter, and driven than a government employed lawyer--especially one wasting away at a regulatory or state AG. Those lawyers are just trying to keep their heads above water with a bunch of suits and not enough competent staff--they don't go out of their way to create more work for themselves.I understand the hypothetical concern but I’ve been litigating in adjacent spaces for a couple of decades. That’s not the reason regulators, AGs, and governments aren’t as aggressive as they could/should be.@big-ryan I give some grace to tobacco bc it was essentially a first impression for a public health settlemt of that magnitude but by way of brief example MO was pulling like $130 mil a year from the allocation. $48k went to cessation. The rest was just used to fund budget shortfalls in Medicaid transportation etc. well fck that. Was again a fck up in establishing conditions but we still really aren’t any better at compensating victims. It’s forward thinking not backward trying to make families “whole”
The way these settlements work actually provides a perverse incentive to turn a blind regulatory eye until public pressure/sentiment/outrage finally demands action after the damage is done. It's gross.
I'd love to hear your opinion on why they aren't, but then later jump in and create the slush fund that those harmed will never see.
At the top, you also have issues with regulatory capture and political pressure. Generally, when these agencies start going after novel theories with big fish, it will be because a higher up is driven politically to do it--if polling says voters in a future political race look kindly on the guy who took on Facebook, voila!, a suit will be seriously considered. Oh, I can claim to have generated X dollars for the voters of Illinois? Let's go!! Or their boss higher than them is getting the political pressure put on them and orders it to be done. Generally, though, these people in regulatory offices, AGs, or even DOJ don't care too much about revenue generation for the political unit other than how it makes them look for that next promotion or election cycle.
I think we're saying similar things. Same end result. The state gets the money, not the actual victims.
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and likely Hoosier basketball fan.
POTFB
@hooky i don't know anything about the meta but by way of example with the opioid shit the idea is that it's a public loss or public nuisance. political subdivision costs attendant to treatment, emergency services, criminal justice, law enforcemetn etc vs individual personal injury. as you say end result is largely the same. mom who watched her kid devolve and ultimately off himself gets no pleasure other than knowing the rural co might get money for telemedicine.
meta is probably some kind of consumer protection gov enforcement action but you're right same end result as opioid. restrictions and public education or some shit
The restrictions and public education can have real results. It did with tobacco.@hooky i don't know anything about the meta but by way of example with the opioid shit the idea is that it's a public loss or public nuisance. political subdivision costs attendant to treatment, emergency services, criminal justice, law enforcemetn etc vs individual personal injury. as you say end result is largely the same. mom who watched her kid devolve and ultimately off himself gets no pleasure other than knowing the rural co might get money for telemedicine.
meta is probably some kind of consumer protection gov enforcement action but you're right same end result as opioid. restrictions and public education or some shit
Those who can prove harm actual harm will file their own lawsuits and be compensated that way. But it'd be nice if the govt would use their hammer to get that settled, too, and save the harmed paying 1/3 of their recovery to PI guys. Just not the way our system works, though.