Personal Injury Law

Juror Mistake Costs Plaintiff Money

By John Day

Here is yet another example of an error in calculations by a jury that resulted in a less-than-intended verdict.   According to jury verdict expert Shannon Ragland this is a frequent occurrence.

How do you protect your client from a similar result?   First, make sure the jury understands that it should award the entire amount of damages and not attempt to reduce them by the percentage of fault to the plaintiff.  That instruction should be part of the jury instructions and, if possible, try to include a brief instruction to that effect on the verdict form.

Second, walk the jury through the verdict form during your closing argument and emphasis the point.

Full post as published by Day on Torts on December 09, 2010 (boomark / email).