Notes and Comments

1.American courts are known to award astronomically large amount of damages in tort cases (although Richardson is by no means considered very large).This does not come because the lawyers always find the “deep pocket” in selecting defendants,or as a result of whimsical judicial imaginations favoring injured victims.As litigation strategy and practice,the plaintiff,through her attorney,must prove every point in her lawsuit that results in damages.And this often comes,not as a word of mouth,or even proven present and future medical costs,but in the form of expert opinion or analysis,such as Prof.Linke’s in this case.

2.Charles M.Linke,is a professor of finance at the University of Illinois,and a visiting professor of Nankai University (1988),and a winner of several awards for outstanding teaching.His publications include: Another Perspective of the (i-g) Differential for Discounting Futures Earnings (recent),A Spanning Approach for Estimating Divisional Cost of Capital (1994),Truth in Lending versus Truth in Borrowing (1993),The Value of Life and Hedonic Damages: Some Unresolved Issues(1992).

Prof.Charles M.Linke

3.Expert opinions are important,if not decisive,in litigation.However,each party may hire its own expert,and sometimes,the esteem of the expert may put a lot of pressure on the other side,and may be highly persuasive to the court.