This wasn't an action brought by the government. He wasn't sued by the SEC, the FTC, or the FCC. He was sued by the parents that he defamed repeatedly over years.
That makes it even worse. Defraud or harm the entire country and you pay less than defaming a handful of people. He deserves to pay them for causing them trouble for his own gain, but if this isn't a political example I don't know what is.
This is because of your ignorance of the courtroom process with a jury...
When those large companies go in front of a jury they are respectful, they don't act like assholes to the jurors, they defend their positions well, they avoid making the jurors hate them.
Jones did none of the above. He did, seemingly, everything possible to bias the jury against him. This is the pinnacle of arrogance and stupidity.
OK, sure, he's a fuckhead. He's a dumbass, he's a clown, he's not a smart man. He is an asshole.
But a billion dollars. A billion dollar judgment. You don't think they're rubbing his face in it a little? Teaching us all a lesson about what happens?
Rule number one is "Do not be a fuckhead in court". Rule number two is "Don't be a fuckhead about children"
It is the juries duty to teach you a lesson when you pull crap like this within the confines the law allows. If you're going into a courtroom with nearly unlimited liability you really need to comprehend that your behavior has ramifications. In addition this punishment is not just for his past acts but the fact the accused shows no remorse about their behavior and WILL continue to behave in the same manner in the future.
In a civil case it is not a jury's duty to teach anyone a lesson, it is their duty to assess and award restitution for noncriminal wrongdoing, nothing more.
For the actual damages section, I agree, a juries responsible is to determine the, well, actual economic harm that's befallen a person.
However, juries are also tasked with awarding punitive damages, and for this the juries responsibility is literally to determine the appropriate amount to teach someone a lesson. That's literally what punitive damages are intended for.
