Debated Damages

From an economic perspective, author Louis Visscher discusses three forms of 'debated damages' in this book. First, pain and suffering damages for personal injuries are regarded as too low in the Netherlands, but a framework to assess the 'correct magnitude' is lacking. Visscher argues that the concept of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) can offer a key element to this framework. QALYs express the impact of health conditions on the quality of life, which is what pain and suffering damages seek to reflect. Applying QALYs, Visscher concludes that Dutch damages indeed are too low. Second, in a recent draft bill, affection damages are proposed for relatives of a victim who is seriously injured or killed. Visscher welcomes this, but argues, on the basis of economic insights, that the envisaged amounts are too low. Third, mass litigation is not allowed to have the object of seeking monetary compensation. A draft bill proposes to strike this prohibition. Visscher welcomes this, because mass damages litigation has several potential benefits. However, whether the draft bill sketches an economically optimal procedure is questionable. *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO [Subject: Tort Law, Law and Economics, Dutch Law]