If you have a potential personal injury or wrongful death case, it’s important to understand the different ways juries determine damages should your case go to trial. Unfortunately, there isn’t one simple answer. There are many aspects of a personal injury or wrongful death case that a jury must deliberate – from reviewing evidence and medical bills to determining the value of one’s pain and suffering.
That’s no easy task for any jury.
But the experienced personal injury attorneys at Pope and Howard, P.C. in Atlanta, Georgia, are here to help. Contact the team today to start the process of receiving the settlement you deserve so you can truly begin your journey to recovery.
Unfortunately, there is no checklist for determining fairness, as every personal injury and wrongful death case is different. Many juries will come to different conclusions in similar cases!
When a jury deliberates, the hope is that they can separate the emotional attachment to an injured victim and look at the evidence before them. To help them understand the task before them, the judge will give guidelines specific to each case.
When it comes to personal injury cases, there is a vast array of laws that come into play, whether that’s negligence in the workplace leading to a dangerous slip, or violation of driving laws. The hardest thing a jury must differentiate between is what is fair and what is just according to law, and not simply siding with the injured plaintiff.
Studies show that there are different theories at play when jurors deliberate on compensating the victim.
Horizontal and Vertical Inequity are two ways that jurors look at similar situations differently. In both cases, the jury will look at similar injuries, but how they affect the different victim. For example, an office worker who breaks his or her leg but can still go to work may see different compensation than a truck driver who is laid up and can’t work with the very same injury.
Another theory in play is known as anchoring and adjusting. This occurs when a jury simply can’t decide what is right and use the numbers provided in the case, the anchor, and adjust upwards or downwards from there.
Finally, there’s fusion theory, when jurors fuse both the injured plaintiff and the defendant’s at fault claims and simply can’t decide what to award.
It is important to understand these theories and to know how to use them to your advantage. The knowledgeable lawyers at Pope and Howard do just that.
Figuring out the hospital bills and medical expenses is the easy part. But how does a jury determine what a plaintiff is owed for pain and suffering, or – in a wrongful death case – what someone’s life is worth? That’s why you need experienced trial attorneys like those at Pope and Howard to help guide the case and steer it towards the best outcome.
It can be difficult when a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit goes to trial, but it’s important to help you get just and fair compensation. Contact Pope and Howard in Atlanta at (866) 910-0642 or (404) 885-9999, or fill out our online form to get started.