random question for someone who speaks legal...

this is gonna seem random but it's just idle curiosity.

do rulings made in civil court establish legal precedent the same way rulings in criminal court do?

for example, if a high-profile person won a civil suit against an insurance company for one of their customer-fucking rules, would it change the system for the rest of us? I was thinking about this after rewatching some west wing. after Josh gets shot, his insurance company doesn't pony up for the amount they were supposed to cover because the hospital they rushed him to was out of network, and they considered suing (we never found out what came of it). which made me think about how he had a chance to do something good on a massive scale, but then I started wondering if it worked the same way in the civil courts.

or maybe, if it doesn't establish precedent the same way, it changes behavior to prevent further suits? I remember the "it's hot" warnings going on coffee cups after the chick suited McDonald's.

ETA: btw, I'm talking about US courts. *obviously*. because we're the only ones that count, right? ;)