JTR is a bit of a special case though.. she willfully and knowingly infringed copyrights (and this has been affirmed through at least 4 appeals that I know of).
The MafiAA knows they'll never get that judgement.. it's just to make a point. Besides that, any decent court will allow you to work out a payment plan. (I say this as someone who has been sued for absurd amounts of money before!)
It's annoying, unethical, disgusting, and a lot of other mean things, but hardly life ruining.
A judge showing surprising common sense that, even in civil cases, you are not necessarily responsible for someone else using your connection.[1]
The RIAA continuing their campaign of ruining peoples lives over a few shared music files [2]
[1] http://gizmodo.com/5943025/you-are-officially-not-responsibl...
[2] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/11/thomas_rasset_loses_...