It’s a huge verdict. I’ve written about huge jury verdicts before, and pointed out that the defendant — the City of New York, in this case — has the right to appeal and when verdicts are really big, they do appeal. An appeal can take quite a while to resolve itself.

The way it can work is: the victim and his lawyers sit down with the City’s lawyers and negotiate a post-verdict settlement, rather than waiting for years until the Appellate Division comes up with a decision which could be to reduce the verdict amount substantially.

So again and always, here’s the question: how much money equates with justice in the mind of a plaintiff?