Other people have commented on the size of the lawyer / court costs vs plaintiff's award, but the thing that concerns me is the limited scope of the judgment. S

Other people have commented on the size of the lawyer / court costs vs plaintiff's award, but the thing that concerns me is the limited scope of the judgment. Since it was brought in WA, the issue of backers outside the state aren't of any concern to those involved, but of course they were equally wronged. The defendant here probably doesn't have $50k, let alone $2.5mm (if suits in all 50 states are brought and result in identical verdicts). If any money is actually paid, it will likely go towards a partial payment of the amount owed to the WA case, and then the defendant will be bankrupt. No one from any other state will receive anything. Meanwhile, if the matter had been handled differently, more of the backers could have received some partial refund. I think this is a situation that Kickstarter could have improved, if they participated in projects post-funding. Binding arbitration between parties, controlling payments based on milestones, and so on.