Outrageous Fortune and the Criminalization of Mass Torts

Abstract

whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand indicating that Brown & Williamson chairman Thomas Sandefur lied to a congressional committee concerning his• views about the addictiveness of nicotine); Alix M. Freedman, To bacco Firm Shows Ho w Ammonia Sp urs Delivery of Nicotine, WALL ST. J., Oct. 18, 1995, at Al [hereinafter Freedman, Ammonia Sp urs Delivery] (discussing internal documents from Brown & Williamson on the addition of ammonia-based compounds to increase the potency of nicotine inhaled by smokers); Philip J. Hilts & Glenn Collins, Documents Disclose Philip Morris Studied Nicotine's Effect on Body, N.Y. TIMES, June 8, 1995, at 1 (discussing previously undisclosed research by Philip Morris into the pharmacological effects of nicotine). As for accounts of misconduct by the leading maker of silicone gel breast implants, see Philip J. Hilts, Maker of Implants Balked at Tes ting, Its Records Show, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 13, 1992, at Al (revealing that Dow Corning scientists pressed for further study of implants but that the corporation put off such tests for more than a decade); Philip J. Hilts, Strange History of Silicone Held Many Wa rning Signs, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 18, 1992, at 1 (discussing Dow Corning's disregard of early indications that silicone might affect the immune system). 3. See infra section II.Al. Although it remains far too early to tell with certainty, there are at least some preliminary indications that manufacturers of diet drugs used in combination under the popular name "fen-phen" may have been aware of the potential for the drugs to damage the heart valves of users.

Laws Relating to Sex, Pregnancy, and Infancy

“…Individual agents who are grossly negligent or intentionally fall below the standard of care by concealing potentially relevant data may be criminally sanctioned. Corporations and corporate agents may fear jurors' moral outrage in instances of criminal trials or civil trials resulting in massive punitive sanctions (Nagareda, 1998). Incidents have occurred in which medical professionals were encouraged by pharmaceutical corporations to label reports about birth defects as "inquiries" (Green, 1996).…”

A Norms Approach to Jury “Nullification:” Interests, Values, and Scripts

“…Instead, often they commingle elements, thereby bolstering weak evidence on one element with stronger evidence on another. Evidence that this occurs comes from research on the story model and cognitive consistency models of jury decision making (Pennington and Hastie 1986; Feigenson 1995; Feigenson 2000; Simon, Snow and Read 2004), from experimental jury research (Horowitz and Bordens 1990: 277–78; Zeisel and Callahan 1963; Greene, Johns and Bowman 1999: 689–91; Feigenson, Park and Salovey 1997: 609), from reports of jurors in actual cases (Special Committee 1989), and from numerous anecdotal discussions of particular cases or group of cases (Sanders 1998: 132–34; Dresser, Wagner and Giannelli 1997: 740–43; Nagareda 1998: 1168–70). Research by Simon, Snow, and Read (2004) replicates earlier story model findings that jurors do not consciously trade elements in the sense that they know the causation evidence is too weak to sustain a verdict for the plaintiff but, nevertheless, find for the plaintiff because of the defendant's clear negligence.…”