Do Extreme Damages Requests Get Larger Awards? New ComCon Online Jury Research Update Published

Oct. 15, 2010 - PRLog -- The third October 2010 Issue of ComCon’s free Online Jury Research Update (OJRU) is now published and answers the question of whether plaintiff attorneys need to be careful of the amount of money that they ask jurors to award in damages.

Research has shown that jurors anchor their damage awards on amounts requested by plaintiff attorneys and that the more a plaintiff attorney requests, the more jurors typically award.

The just published Issue of ComCon’s free Online Jury Research Update (OJRU) summarizes research investigating if extreme requests can backfire, lowering the amount of damages that jurors award when compared to a less extreme request.

One key finding: A plaintiff attorney's $25 million request for injuries valued at $250,000 receives from jurors two-thirds the damages of a $15 million request, but still 2.5 times more than a $1.5 million request. Additional findings are discussed in the Update.

ComCon, a trial and jury consulting firm in Los Angeles, publishes the free OJRU four times each month to provide practical answers to questions about trying cases to juries based on social science research.

Issues of the OJRU in the last two months answer questions about:

* How able are jurors to disregard stricken evidence?
* How often are jurors presented invalid scientific evidence?
* Do jurors believe that non-native English speakers are as truthful as native English speakers?
* To what extent do jurors discuss jury instructions in deliberations?
* How does racial composition of a jury affect capital sentencing?
* Do jurors expect scientific evidence in criminal cases?
* In which types of civil cases is settlement most often mistakenly rejected?

OJRU Issues in the four years since its inception answer questions about voir dire, juror characteristics, jury decision-making, judicial instructions, persuasive strategies, graphics, language, evidence, witnesses, experts, judges, attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants, civil case issues (settlement, liability, damages), criminal case issues (due process rights, defenses, etc.) and specific types of cases (employment, sexual assault, death penalty, personal injury, malpractice, etc.).

The OJRU is a free publication of ComCon Kathy Kellermann Communication Consulting hosted at http://www.kkcomcon.com/CCOnlineJuryResearchUpdateByDate.htm.    

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About ComCon: Litigation, trial and jury consultant firm specializing in persuasion and making cases compelling for motions, hearings, depositions, mediations, arbitrations, trials and appeals in civil and criminal cases, federal and state courts, and national and local venues. For more information, visit ComCon on the web, join ComCon on facebook and twitter, and call ComCon at 310-822-8064.