John Tharp, an assistant editor of the 394-page review, which was published last month, said the report represents at least 90 percent of the civil cases tried last year in Ken tucky and 100 percent of those tried in larger jurisdictions. Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett, a former president of the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys, said the review illustrates how carefully Kentucky juries approach their work. This shows that couldn't be further from the truth. Lawyers and judges say the results show Kentucky juries are conservative and critically minded. They also say the book shows there is no crisis in Kentucky with runaway monetary awards and the data help explain why the state has never been the successful target for tort reform by business groups.
Attorneys also say the findings indicate how savvy jurors have become.
Bradley Hume, immediate past president of Kentucky Defense Counsel, a defense lawyer group, said jurors understand that excessive verdicts affect insurance rates and other consumer costs. But Joseph White, president of the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys, whose members represent mostly injured people, said he thinks prospective jurors are being influenced by politicians who talk about how damaging lawsuits can be to America's economy even though foreign-based companies doing business here are potentially subject to the same litigation. Mr. White also said he believes jurors are influenced by distorted media accounts of trials like the celebrated 1994 McDonald's coffee-burning case, in which a New Mexico woman suffered serious burns from spilled coffee that the restaurant's managers knew was brewed too hot to be safe. The book was first published last year and Mr. White said he's used it to bring clients down to earth. Juries were rarely asked to return punitive damages, which are designed to punish and deter grossly negligent conduct.