An interesting little tidbit ( and an extra reason why things are as they
are ).

Apparently, when an individual wins a lawsuit or gets an out-of-court
settlement, they CAN'T expense the cost of the lawyer fees from their
taxes. So they pay taxes on the entire amount that they receive. Also
(presumably) the lawyer pays income tax on the fee collected. So the US
gov't (and the state gov't if they base their income tax on the federal
AGI) gets a "double dip" of tax money. Maybe the US gov't is loath to cut
the throat of the cow they're milking.