Damage awards are escalating out of control. The amounts awarded to plaintiffs for economic, non-economic, and punitive damages are decreasing dramatically. Juries are awarding smaller amounts to winning plaintiffs, particularly in automobile tort cases. This study shows the need to educate the public, and therefore potential jurors, of the valuable deterrent effect of punitive damages on dangerous and harmful products and conduct. Juries get caught up in the emotion of a trial, ignore the law and find for sympathetic plaintiffs.
Judges are more likely than juries to decide in favor of the plaintiff.
The likelihood of a plaintiff winning varies among the kinds of torts. Juries are more likely then judges to award punitive damages. In fact, plaintiffs seeking punitive damages fare better with judges than with juries, according to the study. The tort system has been turned into a lottery system favoring plaintiffs. Tort plaintiffs are using the courts to cripple American businesses.