Well, first of all Corporations are not people and the Supremes never ruled that they were. The concept comes from the pen of a Clerk after the ruling who, in the most charitable interpretations of motive, was a dumb ass who made a huge mistake. What they are is immortal greed machines granted the privilege by the State to operate at all. If Incorporated the Investors are by definition not subject to individual liability, the liability is absorbed by the Corporation. If the Amount of liability is sufficiently large the Company can be forced to liquidate its assets in order to satisfy the Judgement and Investor’s Equity Contracts (Stocks) can completely lose Marketability (your Stock is worth $0) but your personal loss is limited to your investment (the amount of money you paid for it) and does not include your other assets unless you were part of the decision making process that led to the liability.
So there is already a large measure of Immunity built right in.
Moscow Mitch McConnell and the Republicans insist that any future Coronavirus Relief Bill include further Immunity, even for decisions that directly and knowingly endanger Employees and Customers.
I assure you if you don’t care about people who can DIE from Coronavirus and only about Immortal Corporations who won’t this makes perfect sense.
Corporate America wants a free hand to kill workers and customers
By Phil Mattera, DC Report
May 22, 2020
It is unclear at the moment whether Mitch McConnell and other Congressional Republicans are backing off their demand that corporations be given protection from COVID-19 lawsuits — or if they are maneuvering behind the scenes in favor of the proposal.
What I find amazing is that business lobbyists and their GOP supporters think they can sell the country on the idea, which would be a brazen giveaway to corporate interests.
There are numerous compelling arguments against immunity, but I want to focus on one: the track records of corporations themselves. Proponents of a liability shield imply that large companies normally act in good faith and that any coronavirus-related litigation would be penalizing them for conditions outside their control. These lawsuits, they suggest, would be frivolous or unfair.
…
This depiction of large companies as innocent victims of unscrupulous trial lawyers is a long-standing fiction that business lobbyists have used in promoting “tort reform,” the polite term for the effort to limit the ability of victims of corporate misconduct to seek redress through the civil justice system. That campaign has not been more successful because most people realize that corporate negligence is a real thing.In fact, some of the industries that are pushing the hardest for immunity are ones that have terrible records when it comes to regulatory compliance. Take nursing homes, which have already received a form of COVID immunity from New York State.
That business includes the likes of Kindred Healthcare, which has had to pay out more than $350 million in fines and settlements. The bulk of that amount has come from cases in which Kindred and its subsidiaries were accused of violating the False Claims Act by submitting inaccurate or improper bills to Medicare and Medicaid. Another $40 million has come from wage and hour fines and settlements.
Kindred has also been fined more than $4 million for deficiencies in its operations. This includes more than $3 million it paid to settle a case brought by the Kentucky Attorney General over issues such as “untreated or delayed treatment of infections leading to sepsis.”
Or consider the meatpacking industry, which has experienced severe outbreaks yet is keeping many facilities open. This sector includes companies such as WH Group, the Chinese firm that has acquired well-known businesses such as Smithfield. WH Group’s operations have paid a total of $137 million in penalties from large environmental settlements as well as dozens of workplace safety violations.
Similar examples can be found throughout the economy. Every large corporation is, to at least some extent, a scofflaw when it comes to employment, environmental and consumer protection issues. There is no reason to think this will change during the pandemic. In fact, companies may respond to a difficult business climate by cutting even more corners.
The two ways such misconduct can be kept in check are regulatory enforcement and litigation. We have an administration that believes regulation is an evil to be eradicated.
This makes the civil justice system all the more important, yet business lobbyists and their Congressional allies are trying to move the country in exactly the opposite direction. They want to liberate big business from any form of accountability, giving it what amounts to an immunity passport. Heaven help us if they succeed.
Interesting that so many of these “good” Christians believe the only thing that prevents us from a wave of Sheep molesting (I mean, you’re a lonely Incel on a Farm and those Sheep are really soft and cuddly, it’s like they’re asking for it) is the stern Judgement of an All Powerful God who disapproves of such relationships and will consign you to the Pit of Eternal Damnation.
Seriously, that’s the only thing that keeps them from raping Sheep. Arbitrary rules enforced by unlimited and arbitrary power.
I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t give a Sheep my attention for a Million Bucks on a drunken Tiajuana dare.
A Billion? That’s a lot of money.
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