How much is too much or too little for damages for personal injury cases?

A Dallas county jury recently awarded a woman almost $40 million over a car accident that left her paralyzed. Last week, it was announced that a jury awarded Sarah Milburn $37.6 million after the Uber vehicle, a Honda Odyssey, in which she was riding got into a car accident with a pickup truck. The accident left Milburn a quadriplegic. “The jury apportioned 63 percent of the fault to Honda, for a total of $23.7 million. The jury apportioned 32 percent of the fault to the driver, who was not a party to the case, and 5 percent to the plaintiff, 27-year-old Sarah Milburn.” Many people can agree that tens of millions of dollars is a lot of money, but the severity of injuries suffered by a person or entity can justify a large dollar sign. However, how much is too much?

 

(Source: https://elevenews.com/2018/03/17/ripple-ceo-icos-better-save-money-for-lawyers/gavel-and-money/)

What goes through the mind of jurors?

The decision-making process for jurors determining damages is similar to the process of consumers making a pricing decision. “Analogously, jurors determining a damage amount are making a pricing decision. They are deciding what the appropriate “price” is for the damages that have been caused.” Several biases found in both process can be tied to how and why jurors place certain prices on a case.

·      Damages can be impacted by the precision of the damage request. The more precise the number, the more reasonable the damage request will be viewed. In fact, most punitive damage requests consist of round numbers.

·      Differences between the damage request and the defense’s alternative damages amount may be affected by the first two numbers of the amount. For example, a jury may use a defendant’s damage amount if it appears more reasonable to the plaintiff’s damage request due to the first two numbers of the requests being close in range.  

·      Jurors’ evaluation may be influenced if they have already heard similar numbers in unrelated cases. A juror being exposed to a large number(s) can make the damage request seem relatively low.

·      The presentation of damage numbers via exhibits may impact how jurors view the magnitude of the amounts. Font and size used affects how price is perceived.

The above-mentioned factors only relate to similarities between consumer pricing decisions and jury damage evaluations. However, there are still many other factors that could possibly come into play such as “the strength of the juror’s belief in the liability of the defendant, anger at the defendant, a desire to set an example,” and more. While the comparison study between consumers and jurors is helpful, still little is known about how jurors determine damages. Studies conducted many, many years ago found that most juries took into account the type of injury, severity of the injury, and permanence. Other factors found to be considered were the type of defendant or case. Interestingly enough, urban juries are most likely to make larger awards than juries in rural areas.

Future Projections

With these findings in mind, will it ever be possible to project how much a jury will award and why? In this case against Honda, do you think the $37.6 million award was too much, too little, or just right?