<story><title>Deaths at a California skydiving center, but the jumps go on</title><url>https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/deaths-california-lodi-skydiving-center-19361603.php</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ryandrake</author><text>&amp;gt; rich people&lt;p&gt;That seems to be the key. If I, as a peon, owed child support or something, the government has many ways to squeeze that pittance out of me, including asset seizure and wage garnishment. But if instead I was a millionaire business owner owing $millions, I can just... not pay it. Have my lawyer whisper some arcane incantation to a judge, and suddenly the government is all &amp;quot;Oh, woe is me! How can we possibly get this money??&amp;quot; Two different systems, folks.</text></item><item><author>sanderjd</author><text>Is it? Yes. Should it be? No.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s long past time to stop letting rich people manipulate the legal system to get away with their criminality.</text></item><item><author>martincmartin</author><text>Isn&amp;#x27;t actually collecting judgements hard?  I thought I read, in some article about how Alex Jones hasn&amp;#x27;t paid any of his judgement, that it&amp;#x27;s not uncommon to take decades before seeing any money.  Often people settle for a greatly reduced sum that they can get right now, for that very reason.</text></item><item><author>ryandrake</author><text>&amp;gt; In 2010 and 2011, the FAA issued two fines against Dause and his business for failing to comply with federal aviation regulations, totaling $933,000. But FAA spokesperson Gregor told SFGATE that the fine was never collected by the agency, which eventually referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for further action. The Justice Department did not respond to questions about whether the fine was ever paid.&lt;p&gt;Amazing how a business can just decide to not pay a fine to the FAA, and apparently it&amp;#x27;s all cool. If I missed $200 on my income taxes, the IRS would be up my ass within a year for it, but apparently the FAA doesn&amp;#x27;t urgently need that $1M.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: It keeps getting better!&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Turner’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against both Dause and the Parachute Center; three years later, a judge awarded the family a $40 million judgment, writing in the decision that Dause was personally responsible for the payment. Francine Turner told SFGATE the family has never received any payments from Dause or the Parachute Center.&lt;p&gt;So he doesn&amp;#x27;t have to pay judgments either? I need to learn this guy&amp;#x27;s amazing financial life-hack!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>WalterBright</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s not so easy to get non-rich people to pay, either. The court can order it, but the court doesn&amp;#x27;t do enforcement. The party owed the money has to go pay another outfit to do wage garnishment. Of course, the debtor can just quit and go get another job, and that step has to be repeated.</text></comment>
<story><title>Deaths at a California skydiving center, but the jumps go on</title><url>https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/deaths-california-lodi-skydiving-center-19361603.php</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ryandrake</author><text>&amp;gt; rich people&lt;p&gt;That seems to be the key. If I, as a peon, owed child support or something, the government has many ways to squeeze that pittance out of me, including asset seizure and wage garnishment. But if instead I was a millionaire business owner owing $millions, I can just... not pay it. Have my lawyer whisper some arcane incantation to a judge, and suddenly the government is all &amp;quot;Oh, woe is me! How can we possibly get this money??&amp;quot; Two different systems, folks.</text></item><item><author>sanderjd</author><text>Is it? Yes. Should it be? No.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s long past time to stop letting rich people manipulate the legal system to get away with their criminality.</text></item><item><author>martincmartin</author><text>Isn&amp;#x27;t actually collecting judgements hard?  I thought I read, in some article about how Alex Jones hasn&amp;#x27;t paid any of his judgement, that it&amp;#x27;s not uncommon to take decades before seeing any money.  Often people settle for a greatly reduced sum that they can get right now, for that very reason.</text></item><item><author>ryandrake</author><text>&amp;gt; In 2010 and 2011, the FAA issued two fines against Dause and his business for failing to comply with federal aviation regulations, totaling $933,000. But FAA spokesperson Gregor told SFGATE that the fine was never collected by the agency, which eventually referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for further action. The Justice Department did not respond to questions about whether the fine was ever paid.&lt;p&gt;Amazing how a business can just decide to not pay a fine to the FAA, and apparently it&amp;#x27;s all cool. If I missed $200 on my income taxes, the IRS would be up my ass within a year for it, but apparently the FAA doesn&amp;#x27;t urgently need that $1M.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: It keeps getting better!&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Turner’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against both Dause and the Parachute Center; three years later, a judge awarded the family a $40 million judgment, writing in the decision that Dause was personally responsible for the payment. Francine Turner told SFGATE the family has never received any payments from Dause or the Parachute Center.&lt;p&gt;So he doesn&amp;#x27;t have to pay judgments either? I need to learn this guy&amp;#x27;s amazing financial life-hack!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jjav</author><text>&amp;gt; If I, as a peon, owed child support or something&lt;p&gt;Just here a few days ago: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=39815731&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=39815731&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;But if you&amp;#x27;re very rich and owe tens or hundreds of millions, you can just ignore it and move on.</text></comment>