It's not that I'm afraid of it. But it's a symptom of a system that isn't doing what it's supposed to do. Admittedly, that may be difficult for somebody in your position to see. But to anybody who doesn't live in your world, the notion that a contractor who properly installed a machine in 2011 would pay $15K to a guy who stuck his arm in it in 2019 would sound absurd. And that's because it is absurd.
Also, in this case, I'm pretty sure that everybody who was sued wouldn't have said it was another defendant's fault. Every single one of us -- any rational person, really -- would've said it was the plaintiff's fault. That said, I'm sure that isn't always the case. I certainly understand finger pointing and that many cases wouldn't be as cut-and-dried as this one was.
Ultimately, I fault the courts for not doing a better job at weeding out frivolous lawsuits like this. But if they aren't going to do it, then we need to pass better laws to raise the costs for lawyers who try to bring them. It needs to be discouraged -- and driving up the risks is probably the best way to discourage it.