This isn't justice, its the judicial jackpot game. A single point reading (both time and location)of 700 ppm is meaningless. Concentration x time exposure is the issue. Oh wait, its the how much money can I get from a Balt City jury game. JACKPOT! Why would any business choose to operate in Balt City? The criminal and litigation hazards are too severe.

I hope the settlement gets knocked down in the appeal. I am tired of these huge lawsuits that basically only make the lawyers rich anyway - and the rest of us poorer because society ends up footing the bill.

It is almost like jurors seem themselves as game show hosts and want to make these people rich because they feel sorry for them and want to stick it to the proverbial "man".

Brain injuries are not reversable, They stay with you for life. What amount could you pay me for my brain?

They should have gotten more, just because they are workers for low pay does not mean they do not have value. A--holes

It's all about accountability people. I work for a downtown law firm and if there were not awards of this type and lawyers that fight hard for them then how would we enforce accountability. A slap on the wrist would be meaningless to a large corporation. It takes a major jolt to wake them up and take notice that they need to be responsible for their actions when dealing with the public.

I have serious problems with the opinions and in observations in this column. The facts of the case are usually helpful; and my problem with what you wrote is that it was admittedly and understandably based on an insufficient knowledge of the testimony, the relevant medicine, the extent these workers’ brains were permanently damaged and the defendants’ admitted liability because you did not follow the trial.

After weeks of being exposed to significant levels of carbon monoxide poison gas, high enough to cause 20% of their blood to carry CO instead of oxygen, these 20 Ruth’s Chris restaurant workers were again exposed to a massive release of CO on February 2, 2008, which, according to the defense experts, was high enough to cause 40% of their blood to carry CO instead of oxygen for at least 6-8 hours.

We put on extensive medical testimony from the most eminent experts in CO brain damage in the world (experts in toxicology, neuroradiology, neuropsychology, neurology, psychiatry, speech pathology, internal medicine and barometric medicine) that all twenty of these workers suffered permanent brain damage from this exposure.

The evidence of this damage was clearly visible from state-of-the-art high resolution MRIs, functional MRIs and CT scans, which showed irreversible damage to key areas of the brain which caused severe and persistent headaches; severe loss of short-term memory and the ability to focus, concentrate, and multitask; severe personality changes (depression, anxiety, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, disorder, inappropriate anger and the persistent urge to withdraw from friends, loved ones and strangers), all of which persist to this day.

All of this evidence and testimony was supported by the vast weight of current medical literature on this subject.

On the other hand, the defense experts admittedly had little or no experience or expertise in evaluating, diagnosing and treating persons exposed to CO poisoning. Even worse, we forced the defense to admit that this massive release of CO poisoning into the restaurant was their fault; that it could have been completely avoided by the installation of a legally required safety interlock system which would have shut down the gas fired hot water heaters as soon as the exhaust fan malfunctioned; and that they had intentionally disabled and bypassed this safety system so that they could supply hot water to the hotel and the restaurant to continue to make a profit.

The first lesson of this case is virtually identical to the massive BP oil release in the Gulf of Mexico: When to make money, companies deliberately dismantle safety systems designed to prevent disaster, we are all at serious risk of permanent injury. The second is that we all should have carbon monoxide detectors in our homes and workplaces.

And the third lesson is that when the press expresses opinions on such matters without knowledge of the relevant facts, those opinions can be as harmful to the public as the underlying disaster.

These kinds of uninformed opinions move the public away from insisting on such protections and from an appreciation of what is just compensation for injuries caused by such conduct. Unlike your previous columns, this article did not live up to the solemn responsibility to provide a higher level of commentary informed by the relevant facts.

I will, however, continue to read your columns in the future because, unlike this one, they have been timely, thoughtful and informative.

William H. “Billy” Murphy, Jr., Esq.

Anyone with a memory should know Billy Murphy and his outrageous hijinks in MD politics.

Every house and apartment should be equipped with at least one CO detector on each floor, plus one in the garage of course! Cheapest life insurance you'll ever get. If you buy one make sure you get one that uses grid power and has a BATTERY backup system.I got this one for my house and I'm very happy with it http://www.digitalcarbonmonoxidealarms.com/

here's another fine example of activist judges re-distributing wealth through ridiculous court cases...

Wow! That is a pretty ridiculous sum of money considering that no one was hurt, injured, and/or died.

I think that the business should've had to pay something but $34 million is insane!

The worst that should've happened to that business is that they should have been shut down until they resolved the issue; paid the plaintiffs medical bills as a result of exposure; and maybe pay each person upwards of $100K (and that's being generous).

But I do agree that this business should be held accountable; they should provide an environment that is not only safe for their customers, but their employees as well.