Companies also are protected against lawsuits from sick smokers in Texas. Limits Placed on Juries and Trial by Jury Around the Country Punitive damages have been eliminated in some or all cases in Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Washington. Dallas County, TX, Statistics In Dallas County, civil juries agreed with only 45 percent of plaintiffs' claims in 1999, according to the Trial Report Service of Garland, a private statistical service. In a dozen of these cases, juries ruled in favor of the plaintiffs but refused to award them any money. In 1999, Dallas County juries levied punitive damages, a rare measure to penalize defendants for serious misconduct, in only 19 trials, the lowest number in 20 years.
Judges eventually reduce or throw out more than half of such awards.
Jurors heard testimony that McDonald's purposely kept its coffee at least 20 degrees hotter than other chains, which increased the severity of the elderly woman's burns to the third-degree category. But as the trial progressed, it was so obvious that McDonald's simply didn't care about the safety of its customers. The judge slashed the award by nearly 80 percent, and McDonald's has since reduced its coffee temperatures by as much as 30 degrees. Mandatory Arbitration Clauses Mandatory arbitration clauses, which remove courts and juries in advance from future civil disputes, are business' new weapon of choice against all types of imaginable legal liabilities. They're one reason that this year private hearings will outnumber traditional civil trials for the first time, the American Arbitration Association says.