<story><title>Court approves 3M multi-billion dollar settlement over PFAS in drinking water</title><url>https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/3m-pfas-drinking-water-settlement/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmakov</author><text>If anybody just gets a speeding ticket and includes that in the price of their product, how can the system self correct?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>xyst</author><text>Executives serving actual jail time. Prohibited from joining the boards of public&amp;#x2F;private companies. Personal liability.</text></comment>
<story><title>Court approves 3M multi-billion dollar settlement over PFAS in drinking water</title><url>https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/3m-pfas-drinking-water-settlement/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmakov</author><text>If anybody just gets a speeding ticket and includes that in the price of their product, how can the system self correct?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lettergram</author><text>The fine was the 1&amp;#x2F;3 of yearly revenue, in 2023 their revenue was $32.68B, net income was -$7B (that’s a negative seven billion).&lt;p&gt;Im not sure of the payment timeline or if they have insurance, but it seems likely this will wipe out a few years of profitability and may force the sale of business units.&lt;p&gt;That said, I do think personal culpability is probably a better incentive and more ethically reasonable depending on the circumstances. Though that’d have to be criminal neglect, using laws we probably already have. In other words, this is a civil penalty, not the same as a criminal case with higher burdens of proof and motives need to be established.</text></comment>