The Rainmaker is a 1997 movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Matt Damon, Jon Voight, Danny de Vito, Danny Glover. It is based on a John Grisham novel of the same. As Grisham is known for his legal novels, this is a legal thriller.
Matt is a new lawyer and his first ever case is against an insurance company for wrongful denial of a medical insurance claim against a patient having leukemia. Settlement is offered but the young lawyer deems it fit to fight it in the court. While the case is going on, the patient dies, so it becomes a wrongful death claim. The patient would have been saved had the insurance company not denied the claim. He wanted bone marrow transplant which was a standard practice in such diseases but for lack of money the patient dies.
The jury decides the case in favour of the patient and awards 50 million dollars in punitive damages. The CEO of the insurance company is arrested trying to flee the company. The insurance company files for bankruptcy which means that the money is gone. Nobody will get anything.
While some aspects of the legal practice in the US can be said to be unethical, if you get a good judge and jury, punitive damages can be had in the verdict. Unfortunately in India law of tort is a farce as punitive damages are never awarded in such wrongful death or similar such cases.
Coppola has kept the interest alive in the movie. Matt Damon has done a good role and so have the others.
Matt is a new lawyer and his first ever case is against an insurance company for wrongful denial of a medical insurance claim against a patient having leukemia. Settlement is offered but the young lawyer deems it fit to fight it in the court. While the case is going on, the patient dies, so it becomes a wrongful death claim. The patient would have been saved had the insurance company not denied the claim. He wanted bone marrow transplant which was a standard practice in such diseases but for lack of money the patient dies.
The jury decides the case in favour of the patient and awards 50 million dollars in punitive damages. The CEO of the insurance company is arrested trying to flee the company. The insurance company files for bankruptcy which means that the money is gone. Nobody will get anything.
While some aspects of the legal practice in the US can be said to be unethical, if you get a good judge and jury, punitive damages can be had in the verdict. Unfortunately in India law of tort is a farce as punitive damages are never awarded in such wrongful death or similar such cases.
Coppola has kept the interest alive in the movie. Matt Damon has done a good role and so have the others.
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