Posted on 02/08/2024 3:05:37 PM PST by Ultra Sonic 007
The testimony of statistician Dr. Wyner on days 10 and 11 of the trial explained how sketchy Mann's statistical methodology was; that there are several other ways to analyze the data and none of them show a hockey stick, only Mann's; and that statisticians make many choices about how to structure the data and if they have a certain outcome in mind, it influences the way they present the results.
Wyner was very convincing to anyone who was listening to the actual arguments instead of Mann's defense lawyers' dog whistles, which included numerous immaterial, sneering references to conservative publications, 2020 election denial, and racism (to name a few) meant to sway the jury. Many of Steyn's objections to these slurs were sustained (agreed to) by the judge, who actually rebuked Mann's team during their closing statement -- most unusual. I hope this judge severly lowers the award, such as has been suggested above -- to $10.
I love Mark Steyn, and am in no way criticizing him. But I worried as I heard McAleer and McIlhenny's voice transcriptions of his testimony that his very erudite, European accented, witty manner of speaking, complex sentence structures due to his own intellect and love of words themselves would sound "superior", "entitled", "wealthy" or "white privileged" to a DC jury. Instead, Mark is a self-made man who has worked hard for a living. Testimony revealed he never finished university. To me, this makes me admire him more; but to the jury, the intent was to cast him as someone who had no business even commenting on the grand masters of climate change.
He could have helped himself by calling the judge "Your Honor" instead of the European equivalent, "My Lord", which surely led to bafflement for many average DC jury panelists.
In general, the amount of punitive damages cannot exceed four times the amount of compensatory damages that are awarded to a plaintiff.
The United States Supreme Court has set a limit on punitive damages. Punitive damages cannot exceed a 10:1 ratio.
Will be knocked down.
Agreed. I believe SCOTUS has said that it’s unconstitutional to have punitive damages over 10 times the compensatory damages. This will be overturned.
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