Three types of damages can be awarded to a plaintiff: 1. -Special Damages-reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses, including medical bills, legal charges, cost of repairing damaged or destroyed property, and loss of current and projected income. 2. -General Damages-reimbursement for damages that do not readily lend themselves to quantitative measurement, commonly known as "pain and suffering." 3. Punitive Damages-reimbursement for damages due to gross negligence by a defendant. Question - is there a formula or how does one specifically qualify general/punitive damages. Or is it left up to the discretion of a jury.
when i got my settlement a few years back, my dad talked to a lawyer friend of his, and he said the way insurance companies work is they typically take the medical bills, and then double/triple it for the settlement. i don't know if this is necessarily true, but all i know is i came out alright without taking it to a jury.
consequential damages, damages that can be measured in dollar figures exactly will be awarded at their face value, pain and suffering is decided by the jury, punitives you have to qualify for. Typically in pretrial motions the judge will either rule punitives are warranted or they arent and then after that, it's a jury question as to how much. There is no formula except courts do no like to allow punitive awards that are greater than 10x the monetary value of the case. I will demonstrate a with a medical injury case: Past medical bills....defined by what was actually charge not what was paid by plaintiff/insurance co Future medical bills....jury decides based on testimony by doctors stating what care will cost in the future past/future pain and suffering....decided by jury based on any number of factors they deem relevant punitives (if you qualify)....jury decides what will "punish" the plaintiff Mark
I sat on a jury for a PI case and we were all a little disturbed at the way it went. Awards were small--lawyers were junior all the way--but there were a lot of what seemed to be obvious questions/issues that were never brought up. We put together a list of questions for the judge and he came in and read us the riot act for deviating from the trial. At the end, we came up with our formula for how much to award the plaintiff. Afterward, the judge met with us and commended us on our decision. It felt good, but it still sat a little funny thinking how easily this could have swung in a number of directions. But other than being told how much the plaintiff was suing for, it was completely up to us to determine how much, if anything at all, would be awarded.
And that's the way it should be. It's up to the plaintiff to persuade the jury to award damages and how much they should be. If he/she fails to do a good job, tough luck. The jury jury system is not perfect, but is better than the alternatives...
Agreed. There is a saying among trial lawyers: Lawyers don't win cases, facts win cases. A lawyer, however, can lose a case, and lose it big. Losing would techinically include getting the proper verdict returned, but not being awarded what was deserved. Mark
Oh, don't get me wrong. I definitely believe in the system. But the way this particular trial unfolded didn't instill confidence. The attornies, who were both pretty young and new, asked us to provide feedback afterwards. We told them all our questions/concerns, and they both conceded making mistakes. Actually, for the lawyers here, indulge me and let me post some of the case details. What points would you have addressed or wanted to know more about?: A woman was slowing for a red light on wet pavement. Her wheels locked up and she rear-ended a stationary police car. Not hard--5-10 mph. As a result of the impact, the officer in the car banged the back of his hand on the bottom of his steering wheel. He sustained a minor injury, but police regulations require an active-duty officer be able to fire a gun, which he couldn't. So he was placed on inactive duty while rehabbing and sued the woman for $5000.
It is a common practice to "poll the jury" after a trial, win or lose. Post trial feedback from the jury is a great way to improve your trial skills. That case should have settled for more than that. Depending on the state, the cops medical bills would have been paid by workers compensation which likely had a subrogation interest to be paid back out of any settlement or verdict.
