eli5: How does it work when a company is sued for millions of dollars? do they actually pay that out in cash/stock/etc..

Question

eli5: How does it work when a company is sued for millions of dollars? do they actually pay that out in cash/stock/etc..

In: 13

Answer 1

I worked at a small-ish company that sued a large-ish company for patent infringement. We eventually won in court and in appeals, and received cash equivalent to twenty times our normal annual gross revenue. Huzzah!

Except the cash influx destroyed our company (a complicated story). Sigh. Would have collapsed on its own soon, though, so no huge loss. The paying company survived for much longer, after.