"While it took less than 10 minutes to determine Ozzie Canseco has no money, lawyers spent hours arguing over how much Jose Canseco is really worth..." What, did they tell Ozzie show us your pockets are empty? "Ozzie Canseco said he received $5,000 from the show after taping a segment in which he impersonates his brother"...."Ozzie, who works as his brother's personal trainer" I almost kind of started feeling bad for Ozzie's dumb ass.
Punitive awards in civil trials are used to deter the same conduct from occuring again. The reality is that Canseco needed a punishment and the plainitff needed to be compensated for his injury. BZZZT! Punishment is not the goal of a civil trial - that belongs in the criminal courts. Punitive awards are meant to compensate a victim for his/her losses. Do you believe these two men lost a million dollars for their broken nose, their busted lip? I don't doubt that Canseco was an ass during the trial; he seems to excel at such behavior. But ordering a defendant to pay close to a million dollars for these injuries simply because he lives extravagantly, or even because he pissed off the jury, strikes me as unjust. I'm not defending Jose and his brother. There's a good bet they were strutting into the situation like a couple of peacocks. But I'd also bet these two guys suffered a lot of injuries dreaming about the big payday coming their way after pursuing a washed-up, burned-out former baseball star and his also-ran twin brother.
From here: Punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant and to discourage the conduct of the type the defendant engaged in. Okay, I'm the asshole. I'll do my research first next time, honest I will.
Maybe if Ozzie sold steroids, he'd have a little more jing in his pocket. Then again he can always write a tell all book about his brother and make some money. On second thought maybe not.
