Do Per Diem or Lump Sum Requests Get Larger Awards? New ComCon Online Jury Research Update Published

Oct. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- The fourth October 2010 Issue of ComCon’s free Online Jury Research Update (OJRU) is now published and answers the question of whether lump sum or per diem requests to compensate for a plaintiff’s pain and suffering yield the largest damages awards.

A lump sum request for pain and suffering involves asking for one overall amount of money to compensate a plaintiff, such as asking for $172,500.

A per diem request involves using a small unit of time (e.g., an hour, a day, a month) and assigning it a monetary value (e.g., $10, $240, $7,200). This monetary value is then multiplied by the number of units (e.g., hours, days, months) in which injury is sustained.

The just published Issue of ComCon’s free Online Jury Research Update (OJRU) summarizes research comparing the effectiveness of a lump sum request versus per diem requests of $10/hour, $240/day, and $7,200/month on jurors’ noneconomic damages awards.

A person suffering for 2 years compensated at $10 per hour (or $240 per day, or $7,200 per month) produces a request for pain and suffering of $172,500. If the form of the request does not matter, all requests should yield the same amount in damages.

One key finding: Jurors’ awards for pain and suffering were the largest, on average, for the $10 per hour request and the $175,000 lump sum request, and smallest for the $7,200 per month request. Jurors agreed the least about what to award in response to the $10 per hour 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 few months answer such questions as:

* Do plaintiffs need to be careful of how much money they request?
* Do jurors expect scientific evidence in criminal cases?
* How able are jurors to disregard stricken evidence?
* Do larger per diem requests lead to larger noneconomic damage awards?
* 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?
* In which types of civil cases is settlement most often mistakenly rejected?
* Do jurors distinguish circumstantial and direct evidence?

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 on ComCon's website at http://www.kkcomcon.com/CCOnlineJuryResearchUpdateByDate.htm.    

ComCon on Facebook posts jury-related news and information, including tips, how-tos, free resources, and the latest information about communication and persuasion for making cases compelling. Join ComCon on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ComCon.

ComCon on twitter posts links to articles and tips on persuasion and communication for all phases of litigation, from motions to hearings to depositions to settlement to trial and appeal. Follow @KKComCon on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/KKComCon.

ComCon also posts announcements on facebook and/or twitter of new Jury Research Updates, Visual Resources, Slide Shows, Litigator Links, Trial Books, Persuasion Tips and Litigation Articles added to free “Kollectionns” on ComCon’s website (www.kkcomcon.com).

# # #

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, contact ComCon directly (clientservices at kkcomcon.com), visit ComCon on the web (www.kkcomcon.com), and join ComCon on facebook (www.facebook.com/ComCon) and twitter (www.twitter.com/KKComCon).