Last week brought the sad news that an Indianapolis Police Department officer driving drunk, on duty killed a motorcyclist. (http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/marion_county/cops-blood-tests-called-in-question).     The young man was 30. Leaving alone the criminal penalties the officer will face, the value of this young man’s life is capped in Indiana.

In Indiana an unmarried male with no offspring has his wrongful death value capped at $300,000. Further since he was murdered by a Police officer, damages against the state are capped at $750,000.

Further Indiana caps punitive damages at $50,000…YES $50,000 or three times actually damages, but only 25% of that amount goes to the victim! (If the deceased can even get punitive damages)

The cost of trying a case like this, with expert witnesses, depositions, travel, etc. could run into the 6 figures. The insurance company for the City will drag this case out for years and run the attorney for the deceased ragged basically cutting off his ability to bring in income from other cases.

In the end the likely pay out to the victim’s family will be under $500,000 before the attorney takes his cut. The winner in this case is the insurance company.

When Officer David Bisard killed a young man last week, the insurance company breathed a collective sigh of relief…their lobbying efforts and public relations campaigns have taken the only form of redress available to regular Americans and instead turned it into a cash cow for the rich.