[B’ Spokes: Michael Dresser dresses down those who think the lawsuit against the driver who killed Nathan is outrageous. While I am going to quote a bit but I still encourage you to click the Baltimore Sun link to show support for responsible writing and if you want read the rest of the article, it is very good ]
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Civil settlement isn’t perfect, but it’s the best justice we can offer
By Michael Dresser
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It didn’t take long for people to jump to the conclusion that the Krasnopoler family had benefited from a windfall that would let them move to Easy Street at the expense of their dead relative. Many people, it seems, have bought into the notion that all tort claims are scams perpetrated by greedy shysters — a proposition that’s easy to accept if one has never been the victim of another’s negligence.
What’s been lost here is the fact that without a civil penalty, the only sanction the defendant would have faced for a deadly negligence while driving would have been a $220 fine, plus points on her driving record.
There was nothing about this case that suggested criminal prosecution was warranted. We don’t put people in jail for making simple driving errors, even when they have fatal consequences.
But it’s a good thing that families have civil remedies to turn to when the traffic courts can dole out little more than a slap on the wrist. A monetary judgment is an imperfect form of justice, but it’s all we have in such cases. Whatever the Krasnopolers collected, it came at a terrible cost. I don’t begrudge them a penny.
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https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-0815-20110814,0,6809815.story