U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 1996: Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1996 This report updates Civil Jury Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties: Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1992 September 1999, NCJ 173426 By Carol J. DeFrances, Ph.D. and Marika F.X. Litras, Ph.D. BJS Statisticians ------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Highlights ------------ Tracking tort, contract, and real property cases disposed of by trial in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Civil trial cases 15,638 Jury 10,616 Bench 4,628 Other# 394 Plaintiff won 5,162 Plaintiff won 2,849 Plaintiff won 114 Punitive damages 212 Punitive damages 136 Punitive damages 12 #Includes directed verdicts, judgments notwithstanding the verdict, and jury trials for defaulted defendants. * During 1996 over 15,000 tort, contract, and real property cases were disposed of by trial verdict in the Nation's 75 largest counties. About 70% of these cases were decided by a jury. * Two-thirds of disposed trial cases involved tort claims and about one-third involved contractual issues. Tort cases (85%) were more likely than contract cases (36%) to be disposed of by jury trial. * Individuals were plaintiffs in 82% of all trial cases disposed of during 1996. Individuals sued businesses in 37% and other individuals in an additional 34% of all trial cases and other individuals with an additional 34%. * Overall, plaintiffs won in 52% of trial cases. Plaintiffs won in bench cases (62%) more than in jury cases (49%), and in contract cases (62%) more than in either tort (48%) or real property cases (32%). * An estimated $3 billion in compensatory and punitive damages were awarded to plaintiff winners in trial cases. Juries awarded an estimated total of $2.4 billion to plaintiff winners and judges $629 million. The median total award for plaintiff winners in jury cases was $35,000 and in bench cases, $28,000. * Punitive damages, estimated at $637 million, were awarded to 4% of plaintiff winners in trial cases, with a median of $40,000. Juries awarded over $545 million in 212 plaintiff winners cases and judges over $91 million in 136 plaintiff winner cases. * About 70% of bench cases and 56% of jury cases were disposed of in less than 2 years. The median processing time from filing to final verdict or judgment was 22.1 months for jury cases and 17.8 months for bench cases. ------------------------------------------------------------------ State courts of general jurisdiction in the Nation's 75 largest counties disposed of by trial over 15,000 tort, contract and real property rights cases between January and December 1996. About 70% of the trial cases were decided by a jury and 30% by a judge. Tort claims comprised 66% of the trial cases disposed. Plaintiffs won in 52% of trial cases and were awarded $3 billion in compensatory and punitive damages. The median total award was $33,000. The majority of trial cases (60%) were disposed of in less than 2 years. These are some of the findings from a study of civil trial cases in State courts involving tort, contract, and real property cases in the Nation's 75 largest counties. This study expands the 1992 civil jury trial study (Civil Jury Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, NCJ 154346) by specifically sampling bench and jury trial cases. The sample of civil trial cases excluded civil cases outside tort, contract and real property cases, Federal trials, trials in counties outside the 75 largest, and trials in State courts of limited jurisdiction. Cases that reach trial During calendar year 1996, State courts of general jurisdiction in the Nation's 75 largest counties disposed of an estimated 15,600 tort, contract, and real property rights trial cases. Previous studies conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that a majority of tort, contract, and real property cases are resolved prior to going to trial and only a small percentage are actually disposed of by jury or bench trial verdict. (See Tort Cases in Large Counties, NCJ 153177, and Contract Cases in Large Counties, NCJ 156664). Two-thirds (66%) of civil trial cases disposed of in the Nation's 75 largest counties during 1996 involved a tort claim, in which plaintiffs alleged injury, loss, or damage from negligent or intentional acts of defendants. Cases dealing with allegations of breach of contract (contract cases) accounted for 31% of trial cases, and claims dealing with the ownership of real property (real property rights cases) about 3% (table 1). ----------------------------------------------------- Table 1. Civil trial case types in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Number of all trial Case Type cases/a Percent All 15,638 100.0% Tort cases 10,278 65.7% Automobile 4,994 31.9 Premises liability 2,232 14.3 Product liability Asbestos 183 1.2 Breast implant 7 0.0 Other 231 1.5 Intentional tort 491 3.1 Medical malpractice 1,201 7.7 Professional malpractice 186 1.2 Slander/libel 109 0.7 Other negligence 645 4.1 Contract cases 4,850 31.0% Fraud 668 4.3 Seller plaintiff 1,637 10.5 Buyer plaintiff 832 5.3 Mortgage foreclosure 65 0.4 Employment discrimination 311 2.0 Other employment disputes 309 2.0 Rental/lease 500 3.2 Tortious interference 236 1.5 Other contract 291 1.9 Real property cases 510 3.3% Eminent domain 229 1.5 Other real property/b 281 1.8 Note: Data for case type were available for 99.2% of the 15,766 trial cases. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. a/All trial cases include bench and jury trials, trials with a directed verdict, judgment notwith- standing, and jury trials for defaulted defendants. b/Includes title disputes, bounding disputes, and other real property cases. --------------------------------------------------------- The most frequent kinds of civil cases disposed by trial verdict were automobile accident cases (32%) and premises liability cases (14%) allege harm from inadequately maintained or dangerous property.(Footnote: The term verdict is used throughout the report to refer to jury verdicts and judgments entered by a judge.) Of all civil cases disposed by trial verdict, seller plaintiff cases accounted for 11%, medical malpractice cases 8%, and product liability about 3%. While most civil trial cases involved a single type of claim, about 8% of all trial cases had a second civil claim associated with it. Types of cases disposed by trial Overall, about 68% of all trial cases were decided by a jury (figure 1). Tort cases (85%) were more likely than contract cases (36%) or real property cases (21%) to be decided by jury trial. The majority of contract (61%) and real property cases (78%) were disposed of by bench trial. --------------------------------------------------------------- Tort, contract, and real property cases disposed of by jury or bench trial in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Jury Bench All trial cases 68% 32% Tort 85 15 Contract 36 64 Real property 21 79 Note: Data were missing for type of case in 127 cases and for type of trial in 23 cases. Not shown are cases disposed of by directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding, and jury verdicts for defaulted defendants. These cases make up 3% of all cases, 2% of tort cases, 3% of contract cases, and 1% of real property cases. --------------------------------------------------------------- Nine out of ten medical malpractice and asbestos product liability cases disposed of by trial were decided by a jury (not shown in a table). All seven breast implant product liability cases and the vast majority of automobile tort cases were disposed of by jury trial. Among contract cases, two-thirds of employment discrimination suits were decided by a jury. Bench trials disposed of 77% of seller plaintiff cases, 72% of rental lease cases and 53% of fraud cases (not shown in a table). Three-fourths of real property rights cases disposed of by trial also were decided by a judge. Buyer plaintiff and tortious interference cases were evenly disposed of by jury (48%) and bench trials (48%). (Footnote: Tortious interference cases are tort claims arising out of contractual disputes. In this report, tortious interferference cases are classified as contract cases.) Type of litigants: Plaintiffs In 82% of all trial cases, the plaintiff was an individual. (Footnote: Each civil trial case, regardless of the number of plaintiff types involved, was given one of four plaintiff designations from the following hierarchy: hospital, business, government, and individual. A case with multiple plaintiffs was assigned the plaintiff type which appeared first in the hierarchy.) Businesses were plaintiffs in 16% of all trial cases, government agencies, 2%, and hospitals, 0.4% (table 2). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type of plaintiffs or defendants, by disposition of civil trial cases in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Number of Plaintiffs Type of disposition trial cases Total Individual Government Business/b Hospital/c All trial cases 15,601 100% 81.5% 1.8% 16.3% 0.4% Jury trial cases 10,598 100 91.1 0.9 7.8 0.2 Bench trial cases 4,609 100 59.1 4.1 35.8 0.9 Other trial cases/a 394 100 83.1 0.7 16.1 -- Defendants Total Individual Government Business/b Hospital/c All trial cases 15,601 100% 39.8% 6.5% 48.1% 5.6% Jury trials cases 10,598 100 40.7 6.9 45.2 7.2 Bench trial cases 4,609 100 38.9 5.7 53.5 1.9 Other trial cases/a 394 100 26.3 5.4 61.4 6.9 Note: Plaintiff or defendant type for each case is whichever type appears first in this list: 1) hospital/medical company, (2) business, (3) governmental agency, and (4) individual. For example, any case involving a hospital defendant is categorized as a case with a "hospital defendant" even if there were also business, individual, and government defendants in the case. Data on type of plaintiff and defendant were available for 99.8% of all trial cases and jury cases, 99.6% of bench trial cases, and all other trial cases eith a known case type. --No cases recorded. a/The number of other cases includes cases with a directed verdict, those with a judgment not- . withstanding the verdict and those with a jury trial for defaulted defendants. b/Includes insurance companies, banks, other businesses and organizations. c/Includes medical companies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 91% of jury trials, the plaintiff was an individual compared to 59% of bench trials. About a third of bench trials had a business as the plaintiff. Because tort litigation primarily involves personal injury, over 95% of tort trial cases had an individual as the plaintiff (table 3). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type of plaintiffs or defendants, by selected types of civil trial cases in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Plaintiffs Defendants Type of case Total Individual Government Business/b Hospital/c Total Individual Government Business/b Hospital/c All trials cases/a 100% 81.5% 1.8% 16.3% 0.4% 100% 39.8% 6.5% 48.1% 5.6% Tort cases 100% 95.9% 0.4% 3.6% 0.1% 100% 43.4% 7.0% 41.6% 8.0% Automobile 100 96.3 0.3 3.4 0.1 100 62.7 6.1 30.8 0.3 Premises liability 100 96.8 0.4 2.8 -- 100 14.1 10.4 71.4 4.2 Product liability Asbestos 100 99.5 -- 0.5 -- 100 -- -- 100.0 -- Breast implant 100 100.0 -- -- -- 100 -- -- 84.8 15.2 Other 100 89.3 1.1 9.6 -- 100 1.0 -- 96.8 2.2 Intentional tort 100 94.9 0.4 4.6 -- 100 46.5 13.4 37.9 2.1 Medical malpractice 100 98.9 0.2 0.7 0.3 100 40.6 1.1 2.7 55.6 Professional malpractice 100 87.9 2.3 9.3 0.5 100 45.4 1.6 47.4 5.6 Slander/libel 100 91.3 -- 8.7 -- 100 34.3 2.8 62.9 -- Other negligence 100 89.2 0.8 10.0 -- 100 27.3 15.5 55.5 1.7 Contract cases 100% 54.9% 0.8% 43.2% 1.1% 100% 31.9% 3.8% 63.0% 1.3% Fraud 100 68.2 0.6 30.3 0.8 100 32.8 1.1 66.1 -- Seller plaintiff 100 32.2 0.3 65.7 1.8 100 43.4 0.9 54.9 0.8 Buyer plaintiff 100 72.9 -- 26.0 1.1 100 16.0 1.2 82.4 0.3 Mortgage foreclosure 100 42.1 -- 57.9 -- 100 30.0 -- 66.9 3.1 Employment discrimination 100 93.8 1.5 4.7 -- 100 5.1 24.8 65.5 4.5 Other employment dispute 100 82.4 3.7 13.3 0.6 100 14.1 9.9 69.1 6.9 Rental/lease 100 47.1 1.7 50.8 0.4 100 46.9 2.9 49.2 1.0 Tortious interference 100 44.1 0.5 54.9 0.4 100 25.1 0.8 73.6 0.4 Other contract 100 55.0 0.4 42.7 1.8 100 37.9 9.2 51.2 1.7 Real property cases 100% 43.1% 40.8% 15.9% 0.2% 100% 43.2% 20.7% 36.0% -- Eminent domain 100 7.2 86.8 5.9 -- 100 25.1 26.1 48.9 -- Other real property/d 100 72.0 3.7 23.9 0.4 100 57.8 16.5 25.7 -- Note: Data on type of plaintiff and defendant were available for 99.8% of trial cases with a known case type. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. Plaintiff or defendant type for each case is whichever type appears first in this list: (1) hospital/medical company, (2) business, (3) governmental agency, and (4) individual. For example, any case involving a hospital defendant is categorized as a case with a "hospital defendant" even if there were also business, individual, and government defendants in the case. --No cases recorded. a/All trial cases includes cases disposed by jury trial, bench trial, directed verdicts, judgment not withstanding the verdict and jury trials for defaulted defendants. b/Includes insurance companies, banks, other businesses and organizations. c/Includes medical companies. d/Includes title disputes, bounding disputes, and other real property cases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In 55% of all contract trial cases, the plaintiff was an individual. Among specific types of contract cases, the type of plaintiff varied. In over half of seller plaintiff cases (66%), mortgage foreclosure cases (58%), tortious interference cases (55%), and rental/lease cases (51%), the plaintiff was a business. In 4% of other employment disputes, the plaintiff was a government agency. Two percent of seller plaintiff and other contract cases had a hospital as the plaintiff. Type of litigants: Defendants Defendants in trial cases were primarily divided between businesses (48%)and individuals (40%). (Footnote: A case with multiple defendants was assigned the defendant type which appeared first in the hierarchy.) Of all trial cases, governmental agencies were named as a defendant in 7%, and hospitals in 6% (table 2). In jury trial cases, 45% of the defendants were businesses and 41% were individuals. Businesses (54%) were more likely than individuals (39%) to be named as defendants in bench trial cases. In tort trial cases, 43% of defendants were individuals, and another 42% were businesses. Individuals (63%) were more likely than businesses (31%) to be named as defendants in automobile trial cases. In asbestos (100%) and other product liability (97%) cases, virtually all defendants were businesses (table 3). About 63% of defendants in contract trial cases were businesses. In buyer plaintiff cases, 82% of the defendants were businesses and in tortious interference cases, 74% of defendants were businesses. In 25% of employment discrimination cases and 13% of intentional tort cases decided by trial, the defendant was a governmental agency. Hospitals were named as defendants in 56% of medical malpractice cases. Who sues whom? Individuals sued businesses in 37% of all trial cases and other individuals in an additional 34% of trial cases (table 4). --------------------------------------------------------------- Pairings of primary litigants in civil trial cases, by selected case types in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 All Cases Jury Cases Bench cases Other Cases/c Number Number Number Number Plaintiff versus defendant/a of cases Percent of cases Percent of cases Percent of cases Percent All trial cases 15,601 100% 10,598 100.0% 4,609 100.0% 394 100.0% Individual versus-- Individual 5,307 34.0% 4,057 38.3% 1,167 25.3% 82 20.9% Government 871 5.6 694 6.5 156 3.4 21 5.4 Business/b 5,687 36.5 4,150 39.2 1,341 29.1 197 49.9 Hospital 843 5.4 753 7.1 62 1.3 27 6.9 Individual and non-individual/d versus -- Individual 143 0.9% 75 0.7% 63 1.4% 5 1.4% Government 16 0.1 10 0.1 6 0.1 -- -- Business/b 344 2.2 204 1.9 128 2.8 12 3.1 Hospital 12 0.1 10 0.1 2 0.0 -- -- Non-individual/d versus-- Individual 759 4.9% 181 1.7% 563 12.2% 16 4.0% Government 124 0.8 25 0.2 99 2.1 -- -- Business/b 1,470 9.4 438 4.1 999 21.7 33 8.4 Hospital 24 0.2 -- -- 24 0.5 -- -- Note: Data on litigant pairings were available for 99.8% of all cases, 99.8% of jury cases, 99.6% of bench cases and 100% of other trial cases with a known case type. Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. --No cases recorded. a/Plaintiff or defendant type for each case is whichever type appears first in this list: 1) hospital/med. co.; 2) corporate/business litigants; 3) government agencies; 4) individuals. For example, any case involving a hospital defendant is categorized as a case with a "hospital defendant" even if there were also business, individual and government defendants in the case. b/Business litigants include insurance companies, banks, other businesses and other organizations. c/The number of other cases includes cases with a directed verdict, those with a judgment not withstanding the verdict and those with a jury trial for defaulted defendants. d/May include government, business, and/or hospital litigants. ________________________________________________________________________________ In 9% of trial cases a non-individual sued a business. The most common type of jury trial case involved an individual suing a business (39%)or another individual (38%). Bench trial cases were divided among an individual suing a business (29%), an individual suing another individual (25%), and a non-individual suing a business (22%). In another 12% of bench trials, a non-individual sued an individual. Multiple plaintiffs and defendants In 1996 tort, contract and real property trial cases disposed of in State general jurisdiction courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties involved over 56,000 litigants. The median number of litigants per case was 3; the average was 4. Trial cases with multiple defendants were more prevalent than than those with multiple plaintiffs. About three-fourths of all trial cases disposed of had one plaintiff, and half had one defendant. Half of asbestos product liability cases had 18 or more defendants per case. The seven breast implant product liability trial cases had an average of 8 defendants (not shown in a table). Trial verdicts Overall, plaintiffs won in 52% of trial cases. Plaintiff success varied by type of trial and type of case. Plaintiffs were more likely to win in bench trial cases (62%) than jury trial cases (49%). They were also more likely to win in contract cases (62%) more than in either tort (48%) or real property (32%)cases (table 5). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trial award winners in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 All trial cases Jury Bench Other/b Number of all Plaintiff Number of Plaintiff Number of Plaintiff Number of Plaintiff Case type trial cases winners/a jury trials winners/a bench trials winner/a other trials winner/a All 15,613 52.0% 10,596 48.7% 4,625 61.6% 392 29.1% Tort cases 10,259 48.2% 8,751 47.5% 1,271 56.9% 237 25.4% Automobile 4,994 57.5 4,437 57.3 479 62.9 77 35.2 Premises liability 2,229 39.6 1,796 37.9 352 52.4 81 21.4 Product liability Asbestos 174 55.6 172 55.1 -- -- 2 100.0 Breast implant 7 34.3 7 34.2 -- -- -- -- Other 231 37.2 194 30.9 34 70.3 3 69.2 Intentional tort 491 57.0 351 55.9 128 62.9 11 21.9 Medical malpractice 1,195 23.4 1,112 23.0 53 38.2 30 10.7 Professional malpractice 185 42.6 110 36.2 68 54.3 7 29.0 Slander/libel 109 34.2 78 36.0 25 35.9 5 0.0 Other negligence 645 50.8 494 51.9 132 50.9 19 19.2 Contract cases 4,844 62.4% 1,740 55.6% 2,955 67.8% 150 34.1% Fraud 668 57.7 290 57.6 352 59.1 25 39.8 Seller plaintiff 1,636 75.7 355 64.6 1,254 79.3 27 52.5 Buyer plaintiff 829 55.7 399 49.0 398 65.2 32 22.4 Mortgage foreclosure 65 80.1 7 85.6 54 85.5 4 0.0 Employment discrimination 311 41.1 208 47.6 87 26.0 16 40.0 Other employment dispute 309 50.4 137 53.4 153 52.3 19 13.2 Rental/lease 500 62.7 134 47.2 359 68.9 7 40.1 Tortious interference 236 56.9 112 66.7 113 46.8 11 60.1 Other contract 290 52.4 97 60.3 185 49.9 7 13.5 Real property cases 510 0.3 105 35.7% 399 30.5% 6 49.1% Eminent domain 229 19.6 73 32.5 154 12.1 3 100.0 Other real property/c 281 41.8 32 42.8 245 42.1 3 0.0 Note: Data on case type and plaintiff award winners were available for 99.8% of all trials, and 99.8% of jury trials, 99.9% bench trials and 99.5% of other trial cases. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. --No cases recorded. a/Excludes cases in which both the plaintiff and defendant won damages, cases in which the plaintiff won the liability trial and cases in which the defendant won the liability trial. b/The number of other cases includes cases with a directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and jury trials for defaulted defendants. c/Includes title disputes, bounding disputes, and other real property cases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 49% of jury trial cases, the defendant was found liable. Plaintiffs were most successful in tortious interference cases (67%), seller plaintiff cases (65%) and automobile cases (57%), than in other product liability cases (31%) and medical malpractice (23%)cases. Plaintiffs won about half (55%) of the asbestos product liability cases and 34% of the 7 breast implant cases. In bench trial cases, plaintiffs won 85% of mortgage foreclosure cases, 79% of seller plaintiff cases and 70% of other product liability cases. Judges decided in favor of the plaintiff least often in eminent domain cases (12%)and employment discrimination cases (26%). Trial awards During 1996 plaintiff winners in civil trials were awarded an estimated total of $3 billion in compensatory and punitive damages in the Nation's 75 largest counties. Nearly two thirds of this total amount (just over $2 billion) was awarded in tort cases alone. The median amount awarded to plaintiff winners for all trial cases was $33,000. About 16% of plaintiff winners were awarded over $250,000 in total damages while an estimated 6% were awarded $1 million or more (table 6). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final award amounts for civil trial cases with plaintiff winners in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Percent of plaintiff Number of all Final amount awarded winner cases with trial cases with to plaintiff winners final awards - a plaintiff Total Median Over $1 million Case type winner/b,c (in thousands) $250,000 or more All trial cases 7,892 $3,062,874 $33 15.9% 5.5% Tort cases 4,879 $2,099,723 $31 16.9% 5.8% Automobile 2,853 557,564 18 8.7 3.4 Premises liability 871 329,289 57 22.0 5.1 Product liability Asbestos 81 46,230 309 50.6 12.1 Breast implant 1 1,108 1,108* 100.0 100.0 Other 81 57,146 176 40.5 15.3 Intentional tort 280 81,616 32 19.3 7.8 Medical malpractice 272 336,315 286 51.0 20.2 Professional malpractice 79 21,712 86 23.2 7.6 Slander/libel 37 10,412 22 23.1 9.0 Other negligence 323 658,330 76 27.2 10.5 Contract cases 2,953 $925,859 $37 14.0% 4.7% Fraud 382 262,729 49 17.1 7.2 Seller plaintiff 1,225 223,155 34 10.6 2.2 Buyer plaintiff 449 113,201 23 10.5 4.2 Mortgage foreclosure 50 3,998 51 -- -- Employment discrimination 119 55,883 200 43.1 11.6 Other employment dispute 153 50,533 53 23.8 6.3 Rental/lease 304 35,838 32 9.2 3.9 Tortious interference 131 116,749 61 21.6 11.6 Other contract 140 63,773 49 19.9 11.0 Real property cases/a 60 $37,292 $86 33.6% 12.2% Note: Data for case type and final awards were available for 97.1% of all plaintiff winners. Award data were rounded to the nearest thousand. Final amount awarded includes both compensatory (reduced for contributory negligence) and punitive damage awards. --No cases recorded. *Not a median but the actual amount awarded. a/Eminent domain cases are not calculated among final awards because there is always an award; the issue is how much the defendant (whose property is being condemned) will receive for the property. b/The number of trial cases includes jury and bench cases, cases with a directed verdict, those with a judgment not withstanding the verdict and those with a jury trial for defaulted defendants. c/In one jury trial case, the plaintiff winner(s) was awarded over $40 billion. This cases was excluded from the above analysis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Compensatory damages include all financial losses that are the result of the defendant's conduct. In tort and contract cases, this refers typically to economic losses for which trial winners receive compensation (sometimes called "special" damages). In tort cases, however, compensatory damages refer also to noneconomic losses, such as pain, suffering, and emotional distress (sometimes called "general" damages). Economic and noneconomic compensatory damages cannot be distinguished in the data for detailed analysis. Included also in the total award amount are punitive damages. Awards for punitive damages are almost exclusively reserved for tort claims in which the defendant's conduct was grossly negligent or intentional. Looking at particular types of cases, plaintiff winners in medical malpractice cases received a median award of $286,000, with 1 in 5 receiving awards of $1 million or more. In contract cases involving employment discrimination, the median award was $200,000. In tort cases involving automobiles, the most common type of civil trial, median award among plaintiff winners was $18,000. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Defendant winners of compensatory and punitive damage awards In cases with claims and counterclaims, the distinction between plaintiff and defendant becomes less clear. Therefore, it is possible that one party originally named as a defendant countersues the plaintiff and actually wins damages. In 1996 the defendant won damages on a countersuit in about 2% of tort, contract, and real property rights cases (excluding eminent domain cases) disposed of by trial verdict in the Nation's largest 75 counties. Defendants in tort, contract, and real property cases (excluding eminent domain cases) won an estimated $91 million in compensatory and punitive damages on counterclaims. The median award amount was $17,000. Fifty-four percent of the defendant winner cases were decided by bench trial, 44% by jury trial, and 2% by dir- ected verdict. Of trial cases won by defendants, 17% involved a counterclaim associated with a buyer plaintiff case, 16% with a seller plaintiff or auto tort case, and 14% with a rental/lease case. Punitive damages were awarded to 21 defendant winners in trial cases, totaling almost $3 million. Half of defendants receiving punitive damages were awarded $20,000 or more. Among the 21 defendant winners receiving punitive damages, 18 were awarded by jury trial including 3 after a judge's directed verdict and 3 by bench trial. The largest punitive damage amount was $750,000 to three defendants who countersued in a buyer plaintiff case. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Largest damage award reversed on appeal During 1996 the largest amount of damages awarded to a plaintiff winner among the sampled cases in the 45 counties involved a case with Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos as defendants. In this tort claim Rogelia Roxas alleged that the Marcoses had confiscated crates of gold bullion allegedly found by Roxas. A jury in Honolulu awarded $22 billion in compensatory damages that after the jury verdict had increased with interest to over $40 billion. The jury did not award punitive damages. The case took nearly 8 1/2 years to process from the time it was filed in March 1988 to its jury verdict in July 1996. The actual jury trial lasted 15 days. On November 17, 1998, the Hawaii Supreme Court reversed a $41 billion judgment against the Marcoses. The court found insufficient evidence that Roxas had actually discovered the gold bullion while treasure hunting north of Manila in 1971. Source: Roxas v Marcos, 89 Hawaii 91, 969 P. 2d. 1209 (1998). ---------------------------------------------------------------- The data reveal that final award amounts also varied by whether the case was decided by a jury or a judge. This is particularly true for contract cases in which juries awarded a median amount of $80,000 compared to the $25,000 median amount awarded by judges (table 7). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final award amounts for civil jury and bench trial cases with plaintiff winners in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Jury cases with a plaintiff winner Bench cases with a plaintiff winner Jury Percent of cases Bench Percent of cases cases Final amount awarded with final awards- cases Final amount awarded with final awards- with a with a plaintiff Total Median Over $1 million plaintiff Total Median over $1 million Case type winner/a (in thousands) $250,000 or more winner (in thousands) $250,000 or more All trial cases 5,060 $2,408,298 $35 19.3% 7.0% 2,725 $629,139 $28 9.2% 2.7% Tort cases 4,107 $1,828,026 $30 17.2% 6.0% 713 $259,556 $34 13.8% 5.2% Automobile 2,526 474,921 18 8.4 3.0 299 80,985 20 12.2 7.1 Premises liability 677 178,085 57 22.2 5.3 177 145,374 57 18.0 4.5 Product liability Asbestos 79 43,430 227 49.4 9.8 -- -- -- -- -- Breast implant 1 1,108 1,108* 100.0 100.0 -- -- -- -- -- Other 56 54,774 379 56.9 22.1 24 2,362 56 4.2 -- Intentional tort 197 69,474 31 23.0 8.2 81 11,714 32 9.4 7.0 Medical malpractice 249 328,551 254 50.0 22.1 20 6,527 454 55.4 -- Professional malpractice 40 13,970 87 31.2 9.9 37 7,680 86 15.9 5.4 Slander/libel 28 9,317 25 23.4 11.9 9 1,094 15 22.1 -- Other negligence 254 654,397 108 33.9 13.4 66 3,820 36 2.9 -- Contract cases 941 $576,958 $80 27.8% 11.2% 1,963 $335,605 $25 7.0% 1.6% Fraud 164 87,618 79 28.3 10.2 207 167,814 32 6.0 4.2 Seller plaintiff 228 129,510 62 21.9 7.5 983 92,055 26 7.8 1.0 Buyer plaintiff 185 96,564 49 19.2 9.5 257 16,357 15 4.6 1.0 Mortgage foreclosure 6 375 58 -- -- 44 3,624 51 -- -- Employment discrimination 98 52,575 250 48.0 14.1 17 1,595 75 11.7 -- Other employment dispute 72 45,193 183 39.3 13.4 78 4,832 18 8.6 -- Rental/lease 60 14,168 55 22.0 7.9 241 21,665 28 6.1 2.9 Tortious interference 72 112,443 123 34.5 21.1 53 2,535 24 2.4 -- Other contract 56 38,513 100 29.7 18.8 83 25,129 27 13.5 5.8 Real property cases/b 11 $3,314 $173 35.3% 15.2% 49 $33,978 $58 33.2% 11.6% Note: Data for case type and final awards in jury trial cases were available for 98% of all jury plaintiff winners. Data for case type and final awards in bench trial cases were available for 95.6% of all bench plaintiff winners. Final amount awarded includes both compensatory (reduced for contributory negligence)and punitive damage awards. Award data were rounded to the nearest thousand. --No cases recorded. *Not a median but the actual amount awarded. a/In one jury trial case, the plaintiff winner(s) was awarded over $40 billion. This cases was excluded from the above analysis. This case was excluded from the above analysis. b/Eminent domain cases are not calculated among final awards because there is always an award; the issue is how much the defendant (whose property is being condemned) will receive for the property. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Among contract cases, juries awarded plaintiff winners in fraud cases a median of $79,000 while judges awarded a median of $32,000. In seller plaintiff cases, a median of $62,000 was awarded by juries compared to $26,000 by judges (table 7). Among tort cases juries awarded significantly more than judges in other product liability and other negligence cases. In several types of cases, juries more often than judges awarded damages of $1 million or more. Juries awarded $1 million or more for damages in 22% of medical malpractice cases and 14% of employment discrimination cases. By contrast, in neither of these types of cases did judges award total damages of $1 million or more. Punitive damage awards Of the 7,892 trial cases in which the plaintiff won, about 5% (360 cases) received punitive damages as part of the final award, totaling over $600 million and accounting for about 21% of the $3 billion awarded to plaintiffs overall. The median punitive damage amount awarded to plaintiff winners was $40,000. Twenty-one percent of punitive damage awards were over $250,000, and 7% were $1 million or more (table 8). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Punitive damage awards in civil trial cases for plaintiff winners in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Trial cases with plaintiff winners Number Percent Amount of punitive Percent of cases with awarded receiving damages awarded punitive damages- punitive punitive Total Median Over $1 Million Case type damages/b damages (in thousands) $250,000 or more All trial cases 360 4.5% $637,576 $40 21.2% 7.2% Tort cases 162 3.3% $462,650 $38 20.7% 9.8% Automobile 20 0.7 2,347 25 24.7 -- Premises liability 40 4.5 13,501 75 14.1 4.1 Product liability Asbestos 3 3.2 3,377 1,100 100.0 100.0 Breast implant -- -- -- -- -- -- Other 11 12.8 4,407 462 81.3 -- Intentional tort 67 24.0 7,035 16 7.7 1.5 Medical malpractice 3 1.1 7,675 2,500 100.0 100.0 Professional malpractice 4 4.9 227 75 -- -- Slander/libel 6 17.0 89 15 -- -- Other negligence 8 2.4 423,993 148 38.6 38.6 Contract cases 189 6.3% $173,581 $40 21.8% 5.3% Fraud 59 15.4 75,977 39 10.6 4.9 Seller plaintiff 16 1.3 38,992 27 26.0 7.8 Buyer plaintiff 41 8.8 31,398 30 25.4 4.2 Mortgage foreclosure -- -- -- -- -- -- Employment discrimination 25 19.4 11,619 205 49.4 8.0 Other employment dispute 19 12.5 3,588 88 25.5 -- Rental/lease 5 1.5 157 38 -- -- Tortious interference 16 11.7 10,156 54 8.0 8.0 Other contract 9 5.9 1,693 15 22.5 11.2 Real property cases/a 9 7.9% $1,345 $1 18.3% -- Note: Data on case type and amount of punitive damages awarded were available for 360 of the 364 plaintiff winner trial cases awarded punitive damages. Award data were rounded to the nearest $1,000. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. --No cases recorded. In this study, cases are classified by the primary case type, though many cases involve multiple claims (e.g., contract and tort). Under laws in almost all states, only tort claims qualify for punitive damages. If a contract or real property case involved punitive damages, it must involve and additional tort claim. a/Excludes eminent domain cases. b/The number of trial cases includes jury cases, bench cases, cases with a directed verdict, those with a judgment not withstanding the verdict and those with a jury trial for defaulted defendants. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 24% of intentional tort cases and 19% of employment discrimination cases, punitive damages were awarded to plaintiff winners. In 1996, juries in the Nation's 75 largest counties awarded 212 punitive damage awards that totaled over $545 million (not shown in a table). The median amount awarded to plaintiff winners in jury trial cases was $50,000 (table 9). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Punitive damage awards in jury trials for plaintiff winners in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Punitive damage awarded to plaintiff winners in jury trials Percent of cases Bench Median damages with punitive Jury cases cases awarded damages $1 awarded awarded (in thousands) million or more- punitive punitive Jury Bench Jury Bench damages damages cases cases cases cases Case type All trial cases 212 136 $50 $38 8.2% 6.2% Tort cases 104 58 $27 $75 9.8% 9.8% Automobile 18 1 25 50* -- -- Premises liability 9 30 1 100 -- 18.5 Product liability Asbestos 3 -- 1,100 -- 100.0 -- Breast implant -- -- -- -- -- -- Other 9 2 471 5 -- -- Intentional tort 46 21 4 25 2.2 -- Medical malpractice 3 -- 2,500 -- 100.0 -- Professional malpractice 4 -- 75 -- -- -- Slander/libel 6 -- 15 -- -- -- Other negligence 5 3 138,000 37 60.6 -- Contract cases 104 73 $76 $30 6.9% 4.0% Fraud 25 27 20 39 -- 10.9 Seller plaintiff 7 9 300 27 17.6 -- Buyer plaintiff 21 19 254 30 7.9 -- Mortgage foreclosure -- -- -- -- -- -- Employment discrimination 24 1 259 38* 8.5 -- Other employment dispute 11 9 127 6 -- -- Rental/lease 4 1 31 50* -- -- Tortious interference 8 3 38 39 15.3 -- Other contract 5 4 27 55 20.4 -- Real property cases/a 4 6 $349 $1 -- -- Note: Data on case type and punitive damages awarded were available for 212 of 214 plaintiff winner jury cases, and 136 of 137 plaintiff winner bench cases awarded punitive damages. Award data were rounded to the nearest $1,000. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. --No cases recorded. *Not the median but the actual amount awarded. In this study, cases are classified by the primary case type, though many cases involve multiple claims (e.g., contract and tort). Under laws in almost all states, only tort claims qualify for punitive damages. If a contract or real property case involved punitive damages, it must involve an additional tort claim. a/Excludes eminent domain cases. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Among jury cases, 8% of the punitive damage awards were $1 million or more. Plaintiffs won punitive damage awards in 11% of contract cases compared to 4% of tort cases (not shown in a table). In 1996 judges awarded over $91 million in punitive damages in 136 cases disposed of in the Nation's 75 largest counties (not shown in table). The median amount awarded was $38,000 and 6% of the punitive damage awards were $1 million or more. Among bench trials, plaintiff winners were more likely to win punitive damage awards in tort cases (8%) than contract cases (4%) (not shown in a table). The median award for tort cases awarded punitive damages by judges was $75,000 and for contract cases was $30,000. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The largest punitive damage award The largest punitive damage award to plaintiff winners in the 45 sampled counties was $138 million awarded by a jury in Harris County, Texas. It was a negligence case involving 22 plaintiffs and 6 defendants. The jury also awarded $5.4 million in compensatory damages. The case took over 3.5 years to process from the filing of the complaint to the final disposition. The actual trial lasted 21 days. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Compensatory versus punitive damage awards In about a third of civil trial cases in which punitive damages were awarded to the plaintiff winner, the amount of punitive damages exceeded the amount awarded for compensatory damages (table 10). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Compensatory and total award amounts for plaintiff winners who were awarded punitive damages in civil trials in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Number of plaintiff cases with Percent of punitive damage cases a winner Greater than At least 2 times awarded compensatory greater than punitive Total damage award amount (in thousands) damage compensatory Case type damages/b Total* Punitive Compensatory* awards damage awards All trial cases 360 $968,349 $637,576 $330,773 32.1% 14.9% Tort cases 162 $647,705 $462,650 $185,055 38.5% 16.2% Automobile 20 27,233 2,347 $24,887 19.2 12.8 Premises liability 40 123,565 13,501 110,064 64.0 2.5 Product liability Asbestos 3 8,711 3,377 5,334 -- -- Breast implant -- -- -- -- -- -- Other 11 6,643 4,407 2,236 54.2 54.2 Intentional tort 67 16,588 7,035 9,553 26.0 10.5 Medical malpractice 3 21,951 7,675 14,276 -- -- Professional malpractice 4 271 227 45 74.3 74.3 Slander/libel 6 2,086 89 1,997 -- -- Other negligence 8 440,656 423,993 16,663 87.4 87.4 Contract cases 189 318,128 $173,581 $144,548 26.8% 14.1% Fraud 59 158,510 75,977 82,532 17.7 3.4 Seller plaintiff 16 55,454 38,992 16,462 18.5 18.5 Buyer plaintiff 41 45,955 31,398 14,557 28.3 16.3 Mortgage foreclosure -- -- -- -- -- -- Employment discrimination 25 $26,870 $11,619 15,251 30.5 26.5 Other employment dispute 19 15,849 3,589 12,260 29.3 -- Rental/lease 5 448 157 291 -- -- Tortious interference 16 12,794 10,156 2,638 41.6 41.6 Other contract 9 2,249 1,693 556 67.5 22.5 Real property cases/a 9 2,516 $1,345 $1,170 29.0% 10.7% Note: Data on case type and amounts of total, compensatory and punitive damages awarded were available for 360 of the 364 trial cases awarded punitive damages. Award data were rounded to the nearest $1,000. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. In this study, cases are classified by the primary case type, though many cases involve multiple claims (contract and tort). Under laws in almost all States, only tort claims qualify for punitive damages. If a contract or real property case involved punitive damages, it must involve an additional tort claim. *Compensatory and total award damages do not include reductions. --No cases recorded. a/Excludes eminent domain cases. b/The number of trial cases includes jury cases, bench cases, cases with a directed verdict, those with a judgment not withstanding the verdict and those with a jury trial for defaulted defendants. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 15% of trial cases in which plaintiff winners were awarded punitive damages, the amount was twice the amount of the compensatory damage. In a third of jury and bench trial cases awarded punitive damages, the punitive award was greater than the compensatory damage award. Punitive awards were twice as much as compensatory awards in jury trials (20%) more often than bench trials (7%) (not shown in a table). In tort cases with punitive damage awards, the punitive award exceeded the compensatory award in 56% of bench cases compared to 29% of jury cases. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Federal tort, contract, and real property trial cases terminated in U.S. district courts, 1996 *Federal district courts disposed of by jury or bench trial 2,449 tort, contract, and real property rights cases during 1996, compared to an estimated 15,638 that were disposed of by trial in State courts of general jurisdiction in the Nation's 75 largest counties. *Similar to State courts, only a small portion (3%) of the number of Federal tort, contract, and real property cases terminated reached trial. *The majority (62%) of Federal tort, contract, and real property rights trials were disposed of by jury verdict. *Federal tort cases were more likely (73%) to be decided by jury trial, while contract (53%) and real property cases (68%) were more likely to be decided by bench trial. *In about half of Federal tort, contract, and real property trial cases, the plaintiff won the decision. Plaintiffs won in 47% of jury trials and 52% of bench trials. The median final amount awarded to plaintiff winners was larger in Federal district courts than State courts. The median award for plaintiff winners was $130,000 for all Federal tort, contract, and real prop- erty rights cases disposed of by trial. The median award was $150,000 for jury trials and $103,000 for bench trials. All trial cases Jury trial cases Bench trial cases Number of Number of Number Number plaintiff Total Median Number plaintiff Median Number plaintiff Median Plaintiff monetary award award plaintiff monetary award plaintiff monetary award winners awards (in thousands) winners awards (in thousands) winners awards (in thousands) Cash type 1,090 885 $1,057,387 $130 658 561 $150 432 324 $103 Tort 620 535 $555,791 $130 437 383 $150 183 152 $99 Contract 417 327 459,528 147 208 167 150 209 160 123 Real property 53 23 42,068 85 13 11 225 40 12 78 Source: Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Data Base (Civil), fiscal year 1996. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The role of contributory negligence In 10% of the tort, contract, and real property rights cases in which a jury or judge awarded compensatory damages to the plaintiff, the damages were reduced because the plaintiff had contributed to the negligence that led to the loss or injury. In 1996, the reduction from contributory negligence totaled approximately $94 million. States differ in the role played by a plaintiff's own negligence in determining whether, or the extent to which, the defendant is liable for a plaintiff's damages. Based on these differences, States are classified below into one of four categories. Note: Whether a State was classified as modified comparative negligence, pure comparative negligence, pure contributory negligence, or mixed rule depended on general characteristics of its civil laws. If the focus were on specific types of civil cases, the classification might differ from what is shown here. States do not always use the same decision rules for each type of civil case. Modified comparative negligence Nine States have a modified comparative negligence rule (the "50% bar to recovery" rule) which stipulates that the plaintiff can recover damages only if he or she is less negligent than the defendant. Arkansas Kansas Utah Colorado Maine West Virginia Idaho North Dakota Wyoming Eighteen States use a modified comparative negligence rule (the "51% bar to recovery" rule)under which the plaintiff can recover damages only if he or she is not more negligent than the defendant. Connecticut New Hampshire Hawaii New Jersey Illinois Ohio Indiana Oklahoma Iowa Oregon Massachusetts Pennsylvania Montana Texas Minnesota Vermont Nevada Wisconsin Pure comparative negligence Thirteen States use a pure comparative negligence rule under which a plaintiff can recover damages to the extent that the defendant is responsible for the plaintiff's injuries. Alaska Louisiana New Mexico Arizona Michigan New York California Mississippi Rhode Island Florida Missouri Washington Kentucky Pure contributory negligence Six States use a pure contributory negligence rule that bars recovering damages from the defendant if the plaintiff's own negligent conduct contributed in any way to his or her own injuries. Alabama Maryland South Carolina Delaware North Carolina Virginia Mixed rules Four States have a blend of rules and do not fit into any single category. Georgia South Dakota Nebraska Tennessee Source: American Jurisprudence, 2nd edition (1989, supp. 1995), 57B: 1131-49. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Number of days in trial Trials conducted in the Nation's 75 largest counties lasted 3.9 days on average; the median number of days was 3.0 (not shown in table). Jury trials lasted an average of 4.7 days compared to 1.9 days for bench trials. The median number of days in a jury trial was 3.0, and in bench trials it was 1.0 day. The longest jury trial recorded in the sample lasted 73 days, and the longest bench trial, 27 days. Half of all tort and contract bench trials lasted 1 day or less compared to 3 days or less for jury tort trials and 4 days or less for jury contract trials. Among specific types of cases, auto tort cases disposed of by bench trials lasted on average 1.4 days compared to 3.4 days among those disposed by jury trial. Case processing time Among all trial cases, the average case processing time from filing of the complaint to final verdict or judgment was 25.6 months, with half of the 13,358 cases taking 20.9 months or more (table 11). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Case processing time from filing of complaint to final verdict or judgment in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Filing of complaint to final verdict or judgment Number Percent of trial cases disposed of in- of trial Median Mean Less than Over 2 years but 4 years Case type cases/a (months) (months) 2 years less than 4 years or more All trial cases 13,358 20.9 25.6 59.3% 30.4% 10.3% Tort cases 9,010 21.7 26.7 56.9% 31.1% 11.9% Automobile 4,451 19.0 22.8 66.9 26.2 6.9 Premises liability 1,979 23.9 28.7 50.2 36.0 13.7 Product liability Asbestos 154 50.1 50.2 22.5 21.2 56.3 Breast implant 4 38.7 28.8 28.9 71.1 -- Other 190 28.0 33.2 33.7 41.5 24.8 Intentional tort 402 21.0 25.1 57.6 34.7 7.7 Medical malpractice 1,031 28.5 34.1 38.4 40.4 21.2 Professional malpractice 153 22.8 28.6 57.7 27.3 15.0 Slander/libel 91 22.3 27.1 65.7 24.5 9.8 Other negligence 555 23.9 29.2 50.7 34.6 14.7 Contract cases 4,008 19.1 23.0 64.4% 28.9% 6.7% Fraud 590 20.7 25.2 58.8 32.5 8.7 Seller plaintiff 1,268 17.3 21.1 69.2 26.8 4.0 Buyer plaintiff 665 19.8 23.3 63.6 29.2 7.3 Mortgage foreclosure 50 17.2 22.4 68.3 23.1 8.5 Employment discrimination 288 22.0 26.4 55.9 34.4 9.7 Other employment dispute 268 21.5 24.4 57.5 34.4 8.1 Rental/lease 417 16.7 20.1 73.9 20.9 5.2 Tortious interference 211 20.7 25.3 60.7 31.8 7.5 Other contract 252 21.1 25.1 59.0 30.3 10.6 Real property cases 339 19.0 24.5 63.7% 27.0% 9.4% Eminent domain 101 21.4 23.6 58.6 33.2 8.2 Other real property/b 238 18.8 24.9 65.8 24.3 9.8 Note: Data for filing time to final verdict or judgment, including answer filed and trial start date, were available for 84.7% of all trial cases. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. --No cases recorded. a/All trial cases include cases disposed by jury trial, bench trial, directed verdicts, judgment not withstanding the verdict and jury trials for defaulted defendants. b/Includes title disputes, bounding disputes, and other real property cases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tort cases, as a whole, reached final verdict or judgment in an average of 26.7 months compared to 23.5 months for contract cases. Asbestos cases had the longest case processing time, averaging about 50.2 months from filing to final verdict or judgment, followed by medical malpractice cases with an average of 34.1 months. Fifty-nine percent of all trial cases were disposed of within 2 years. Over half of asbestos cases and a fifth of medical malpractice cases were disposed of in 4 or more years. Nine percent of real property cases and 7% of contract cases went from filing to termination in 4 years or more. Overall, bench trial cases were disposed of more quickly than jury trial cases. About two-thirds (70%) of bench trial cases were disposed of in less than 2 years compared to 56% of jury trial cases. Within 3 years from filing, 94% of bench cases and 88% of jury cases were disposed (figure 2). -------------------------------------------------------------- During 1996, 70% of bench cases and 56% of jury cases were disposed of within 2 years of being filed Jury Bench Less than 1 year 13.6 24.2 Less than 2 years 55.6 69.6 Less than 3 years 78.1 87.2 Less than 4 years 88.2 93.8 Less than 5 years 95.0 96.8 More than 5 years 100.0 100.0 Note: Cases disposed of by directed verdict, judgment not- withstanding, and jury verdicts for defaulted defendants are not shown. During 1996, 51% of these cases were disposed of within 2 years of filing. -------------------------------------------------------------- The difference between bench and jury trials in case processing time was evident in several types of civil cases disposed of in the Nation's 75 largest counties during 1996. Half of tort bench cases went from filing of the complaint to final verdict or judgment in at least 19.1 months compared to 22.0 months for tort cases decided by a jury. In less than 2 years, 95% of slander/libel tort cases decided by a bench trial were disposed, compared to 56% of those decided by a jury. About three-quarters of professional (75%) and medical (72%) malpractice bench cases went from filing to disposition within 2 years compared to less than half of professional (45%) and medical (37%) malpractice cases disposed of by a jury (table 12). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Case processing time from filing of complaint to final verdict or judgment in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1996 Filing of complaint to final disposition Filing of complaint to final disposition Pecent of jury trial Percent of bench trial cases disposed of in- cases disposed of in- Number of Number of jury trial Median Median Less than 4 years bench trial Median Median Less than 4 years Case type case (months) (months) 2 years or more case (months) (months) 2 years or more All trial cases/a 9,315 22.1 27.0 55.6% 11.8% 3,705 17.8 21.7 69.6% 6.2% Tort cases 7,694 22.0 27.1 56.0% 12.3% 1,112 19.1 23.6 64.6% 9.0% Automobile 3,962 19.2 23.0 66.7 6.8 428 17.2 21.0 71.4 7.7 Premises liability 1,582 24.4 29.2 49.1 14.0 324 21.4 26.4 54.2 11.4 Product liability Asbestos 152 50.1 50.8 21.5 57.0 -- -- -- -- -- Breast implant 4 38.7 28.8 28.9 -- -- -- -- -- -- Other 158 29.7 35.5 30.4 29.8 28 21.8 23.9 49.1 -- Intentional tort 293 22.8 25.9 52.4 7.2 99 16.7 22.4 72.1 8.7 Medical malpractice 953 29.0 34.7 36.9 21.6 47 18.8 23.8 71.8 8.3 Professional malpractice 88 25.6 32.9 45.0 23.9 58 20.6 23.2 75.1 3.4 Slander/libel 66 23.4 29.2 56.2 10.1 20 18.9 19.7 94.9 5.1 Other negligence 435 23.8 29.4 51.5 15.4 107 23.7 28.5 51.1 13.6 Contract cases 1,531 22.6 26.2 54.2% 9.4% 2,350 16.8 20.7 72.0% 4.6% Fraud 253 23.7 27.9 50.9 11.4 313 17.7 22.0 69.5 5.7 Seller plaintiff 310 21.8 25.5 55.3 7.9 937 16.3 19.7 73.5 2.7 Buyer plaintiff 341 22.0 25.0 54.8 8.5 297 17.8 21.2 73.1 5.4 Mortgage foreclosure 7 27.4 23.8 38.5 -- 39 16.5 21.7 73.5 11.0 Employment discrimination 192 23.6 27.9 51.6 11.8 81 17.3 22.3 68.9 4.8 Other employment dispute 129 22.0 26.6 54.0 10.5 127 20.4 21.5 63.8 4.0 Rental/lease 111 18.9 22.4 68.9 6.8 298 15.1 19.4 75.2 4.7 Tortious interference 107 23.2 27.2 54.3 8.2 94 15.9 22.9 72.9 7.5 Other contract 81 24.0 28.7 45.0 10.5 164 16.7 22.7 68.0 9.8 Real property cases 90 25.6 28.8 46.6% 10.3% 244 18.3 23.3 69.1% 9.2% Eminent domain 59 25.8 29.6 43.0 10.8 39 8.3 14.9 79.3 4.9 Other real property/b 30 23.3 27.1 53.7 9.5 205 18.6 24.9 67.1 10.0 Note: Data for filing time to final disposition, including answer filed and trial start date, and case type were available, for 87.0% of jury cases and 79.4% of bench cases. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. --No cases recorded. a/Not included are trial cases disposed by directed verdicts, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and jury trials for defaulted defendants. b/Includes title disputes, bounding disputes, and other real property cases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The median case processing time for contract cases disposed of by a bench trial was 16.8 months compared to 22.6 months for cases disposed of by jury trial. Similarly, half of real property bench cases were processed in at least 18.3 months compared to 25.6 months among jury cases (table 12). Among eminent domain cases, the median case processing time for bench trials was 8.3 months compared to 25.8 months for jury cases a median difference of nearly 1.5 years. Eminent domain cases are those in which a governmental entity has the power to convert privately owned property, particularly land, to public use, subject to reasonable compensation. County-specific data The number of jury and bench trials, percentage of plaintiff winners, final awards, and punitive damage award amounts varied across the individual State courts sampled in this project (appendix tables B, C, D and E). Many factors account for these differences across State courts such as State civil justice laws and the types of cases disposed of by trial. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Comparison of 1992 and 1996 jury trial cases *In 1992, jury trials in the Nation's 75 largest counties disposed over 12,000 tort, contract, and real property cases compared to just over 10,000 in 1996. This decrease in the number of jury cases from 1992 to 1996, however, was not statistically significant. *In 1992, plaintiffs won 52% of all jury trial cases. In 1996, plaintiffs were successful in 49% of all jury trials. Among contract cases, plaintiffs were more likely to win in jury trial cases in 1992 (63%) than in 1996 (56%). Plaintiffs won in about half of tort cases in 1992 (50%) and 1996 (48%). *Among specific types of cases, plaintiffs were more successful in medical malpractice, professional malpractice, buyer plaintiff, and rental/lease cases in 1992 compared to 1996. *When adjusted for inflation, the median total award in 1996 was $35,000 compared to $58,000 in 1992. There was no significant difference, however, between the total amount of compensatory and punitive damages awared by juries in 1992 ($3 billion when adjusted for inflation) and 1996 ($2.4 billion). *In 1992, 364 jury trial cases or 6% of all plaintiff winner cases were awarded punitive damages that totaled over $300 million when adjusted for inflation. This did not differ statistically from the more than $545 million in punitive damages awarded to 212 or 4% of plaintiff winner cases in 1996. *In both 1992 and 1996, plaintiff winners in contract cases were more likely to receive punitive damages than plaintiff winners in tort cases. Final award amounts and punitive damage amounts for jury trial cases with plaintiff winners in State courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties, 1992 Plaintiff winners, 1992 Amount of punitive damages Final amount awarded awarded to plaintiff winners Number of jury (1996 dollars) Number of jury Percent of jury (1996 dollars) cases with Total Median cases awarded cases receiving Total Median Case type plaintiff winner/a (in thousands) punitive damages/a punitive damages (in thousands) All 5,930 $3,022,598 $58 364 5.9% $300,000 $56 Tort cases 4,574 $2,091,682 $57 190 4.0% $102,454 $41 Automobile 2,280 562,914 33 55 2.4 39,799 28 Premises liability 841 219,605 65 15 1.7 1,425 45 Product liability 139 114,790 280 3 2.3 45 10 Intentional tort 195 116,845 58 38 18.8 12,237 280 Medical malpractice 403 669,926 225 13 3.1 3,494 223 Professional malpractice 92 108,985 174 15 15.7 6,806 280 Slander/libel 27 7,038 28 8 29.8 1,502 52 Toxic substance 202 119,063 113 13 6.2 29,591 1,895 Other negligence 393 172,515 72 30 7.2 7,555 112 Contract cases 1,314 $915,364 $62 169 12.3% $189,872 $58 Fraud 173 131,274 79 38 21.2 8,220 50 Seller plaintiff 412 96,540 39 24 5.6 1,367 24 Buyer plaintiff 361 194,127 49 47 12.5 30,739 30 Employment 170 279,111 158 46 26.8 148,690 201 Rental/lease 85 178,902 79 11 11.3 4,447 56 Other contract 113 35,410 55 2 1.8 4,409 162 Real property cases/b 43 $15,553 $55 5 11.7% $7,698 $95 Note: Data on case type and final award amounts to plaintiff winners were available for 96% of jury trial cases. 1992 final and punitive damage awards are adjusted for inflation and presented in 1996 dollars. Award amounts were rounded to the nearest $1,000. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. In this study, cases are classified by the primary case type, though many cases involve multiple claims (contract and tort). Under laws in almost all States, only tort claims qualify for punitive damages. If a contract or real property case involved punitive damages, it involved a related tort claim. Punitive damage awards may be incomplete for 4 counties: Palm Beach Co., FL, Wayne Co., MI, Allegheny Co., PA, and Philadelphia Co., PA. a/Excludes cases with a directed verdict, cases in which both the plaintiff and defendant won damages, cases in which the plaintiff won the liability trial and cases in which the defendant won the liability trial. b/Eminent domain cases are not calculated among final awards because there is always an award; the issue is how much the defendant (whose property is being condemned) will receive for the property. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Methodology Definitions of disposition types: Jury trial: A trial held before and decided by a group of laypersons selected according to the law presided over by a judge culminating in a verdict for the plaintiff(s) and/or defendant(s). Bench trial (non-jury trial): A trial held in the absence of a jury and decided by a judge culminating in a judgment for the plaintiff(s) or defendant(s). Directed verdict: In a case in which the party with the burden of proof has failed to present a prima facie case for jury consideration, a trial judge may order the entry of a verdict without allowing the jury to consider it, because, as a matter of law, there can be only one such verdict. Judgment notwithstanding the verdict: ("JNOV" or Judgment non obstante veredicto): A judgment rendered in favor of one party despite the finding of a jury verdict in favor of the other party. Jury trials for defaulted defendants: Some states make provisions for a jury to be empaneled even if the defendants in a case fail to appear and enter a defense. The purpose of a trial is to decide issues such as amount of damages. See Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 1.500, section (e). Definitions of civil case types: Torts: Claims arising from personal injury or property damage caused by negligent or intentional acts of another person or business. Specific tort case types include: automobile accident; premise liability (injury caused by the dangerous condition of residential or commercial property); medical malpractice (by doctor, dentist, or medical professional); other professional malpractice (e.g. by engineers, architects); product liability (injury or damage caused by defective products; injury caused by toxic substances such as asbestos); libel/slander (injury to reputation); intentional tort (vandalism, intentional personal injury); and other negligent acts (negligence against another party for an act not represented by the other case categories used in this study such as a the negligent supervision of a dog resulting in an attack). Contracts: Cases which include all allegations of breach of contract. Specific case types include seller plaintiff (sellers of goods or services, including lenders, seek payment of money owed to them by a buyer, including borrowers); buyer plaintiff (purchaser of goods or services seeking return of their money, recision of the contract, or delivery of the specified goods); mortgage contract/foreclosure (foreclosures on real property, commercial, or residential; because the title to real property is transferred to the lender if the claim is successful it could be included under real property cases); fraud (financial damages incurred due to intentional or negligent misrepresentation regarding a product or company; fraud is also considered a type of tort claim, but because it arises out of commercial transactions, it was included under contracts); employment discrimination (claim against an employer for unfair treatment or denial of normal privileges due to race, gender, religion, age, handicap and/or nationality); other employment dispute (claim against an employer for wrongful termination not based on discrimination or by the employer or the employee claiming contractual failure of the other party); rental/lease agreement; tortious interference with a commercial or contractual relationship (this tort consists of four elements: existence of a valid contract, defendant's knowledge of that contract, defendant's intentional procuring of breach of that contract and damages); and other contract claims (any contractual dispute other than the case categories used in this study such as partnership claims, stockholder claims, and subrogation issues). Real Property: Any claim regarding ownership of real property (excluding mortgage foreclosures which are included under contracts). Specific categories used include: eminent domain (condemnation of real property to obtain for public use); other real property (any other claim regarding title to or use of real property). Source: Definitions were developed by the National Center for State Courts through consultation with NCSC Staff Attorneys, law professors, and from Black's Law Dictionary. Sample The sample design for the 1996 civil trial study was the same was one used for the 1992 civil jury study. The sample is a 2-stage stratified sample with 45 of the 75 most populous counties selected at the first stage. The 75 counties were divided into 4 strata based on civil disposition data for 1990 obtained through telephone inter- views with court staff in the general jurisdiction trial courts. Stratum 1 consisted of the 14 counties with the largest number of civil case dispositions. Every county in stratum 1 was selected for the sample. Stratum 2 consisted of 15 counties with 12 chosen for the sample. From strata 3, 10 of the 20 counties were selected. Nine of the 26 counties in stratum 4 were included in the sample. The second stage of the sample design involved generating lists of cases that would be coded. Prior to drawing the 1996 case sample, each participating jurisdiction was asked to identify a list of cases that had been disposed by jury trial or bench trial between January 1, 1996, and December 31, 1996. Trial cases were to meet the definitional criteria for jury and bench trials as defined in Black's Law Dictionary: (1) A jury trial was defined as "a trial held before and decided by a jury of laypersons and presided over by a judge culminating in a verdict for the plaintiff(s) or defendant(s), and (2) A bench trial was defined as "a trial held in the absence of a jury and decided by a judge culminating in a judgment for the plaintiff(s) or defendant(s)." Cases that did not meet these definitional criteria were not to be included in the jury and bench lists. The study plan was to obtain approximately 300 jury and 300 bench cases from the court of general jurisdiction in each of the counties selected for the study. In courts that reported approximately 300 or less jury or bench trials, all trials were to be coded. In courts that reported more than 300 jury or 300 bench trials, a list of cases was to be provided to project staff and a random sample of 275 drawn from the jury and bench trial case list. For jury and bench case lists in which the case type was known, any remaining medical malpractice, professional malpractice and product liability cases not initially selected were to be included in the sample in order to over sample these case types. At the second stage of sampling for jury cases, all tort, contract, and real property rights cases disposed by bench verdict between January 1, 1996, and December 31, 1996, were selected in 41 jurisdictions. In the 1 jurisdiction where the total number of bench cases disposed exceeded 300 and the case type could be identified, a random sample of about 275 cases was drawn from a list of tort, contract, and real property bench trials. Any remaining medical malpractice, professional malpractice and product liability cases not initially chosen in the random sample also were included. In the 3 jurisdictions where the total number of bench cases disposed exceeded 300 and case type could not be identified, a random sample of about 275 tort, contract, and real property rights cases were selected from the list of bench trials. During the coding process in all sites, it was discovered that some courts included in their list some jury and bench trials that did not meet the study definitional criteria of a trial. These cases were excluded from the database. By excluding cases that did not meet the study criteria, some jurisdictions in which sampling was utilized have final sample sizes of less than 275 cases. Data on 6,713 civil jury trial cases and 2,312 civil trial bench cases that meet the study criteria were collected in the 45 courts. The final sample consisted of 9,025 tort, contract, and real property rights case disposed of by jury or bench verdict. Populations of jury and bench trials In jurisdictions where second stage case sampling was not used, the populations of jury and bench trials reported are based on applying the study criteria in each site and excluding cases that did not meet the study definitions. In the jurisdictions where second stage sampling was used, the true population of trial verdicts according to the study definitions could not be known. It was impossible to know the number of cases that failed to meet the definitional criteria of a trial among the cases that did not make it into the sample. The true population within each of these jurisdictions, therefore, was estimated by applying the same rejection rate generated from the selected sample after it was coded. For example, Orange County reported 340 jury trials in 1996. A random sample of 275 cases was chosen and when coded accor- ding to study criteria produced 221 jury trial verdicts. This translates into a reject rate of 20% of the cases since 20% did not meet the definitional criteria of a jury trial. Applying this rejection rate to the original list of 374 jury trial cases provided by the jurisdiction resulted in an estimated population of 301 jury trials. Sampling error Since the data in this report came from a sample, a sampling error (standard error) is associated with each reported number. In general, if the difference between 2 numbers is greater than twice the standard error for that difference, there is confidence that for 95 out of 100 possible samples a real difference exists and that the apparent difference is not simply the result of using a sample rather than the entire popula- tion. All differences discussed in the text of this report were statistically significant at or above the 95 percent confidence level. Data recoding and unobtainable information For each sampled case, a standard coding form was manually completed by on-site court staff to record information about the litigants, case type, processing time and award amounts. Information for which data were not available or collected included the cost of litigation for the parties involved, as well as for others; the actual disbursement of awards; and the number of cases appealed. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix A. Civil trial juries: Size and verdict rules in State courts of general jurisdiction Jury Civil juries State/Courts size decision rule Alabama Circuit 12 Unanimous Alaska Superior 12 5/6 rule Arizona Superior 8 3/4 rule Arkansas Circuit 12 3/4 rule Common Pleas 12 3/4 rule California Superior 12/a 3/4 rule Colorado District 6 Unanimous Connecticut Superior 6 Unanimous Delaware Superior 12 Unanimous District of Columbia Superior 6/b Unanimous Florida Circuit 6/c Unanimous Georgia Superior 12 Unanimous Hawaii Circuit 12/d 5/6 rule/e Idaho District 12 3/4 rule Illinois Circuit 6/f Unanimous Indiana Superior 6 Unanimous Circuit 6 Unanimous Iowa District 8 7/8 rule or Unanimous/g Kansas District 6/12/h 5/6 rule or Unanimous/i Kentucky Circuit 12 3/4 rule Louisiana District 12/j 5/6 rule, 9/12 rule Maine Superior 8 3/4 rule Maryland Circuit 12 Unanimous Massachusetts Superior 12 5/6 rule Michigan Circuit 6 5/6 rule Minnesota District 6 5/6 rule or Unanimous Mississippi Circuit 12 3/4 rule Chancery 12 3/4 rule Missouri Circuit 12 3/4 rule Montana District 12/k 2/3 rule Nebraska District 12 5/6 rule or Unanimous/l Nevada District 12/m 3/4 rule New Hampshire Superior 12 Unanimous New Jersey Superior 5 5/6 rule New Mexico District 12 5/6 rule New York Supreme 6 5/6 rule County 6 5/6 rule North Carolina/n Superior 12 Unanimous North Dakota District 2 Unanimous Ohio Common Pleas 1.5 3/4 rule Oklahoma District 6/12/o 3/4 rule Oregon Circuit 12 3/4 rule Pennsylvania Common Pleas 12 5/6 rule Rhode Island Superior 12 5/6 rule South Carolina Circuit 12 Unanimous South Dakota Circuit 12 5/6 rule Tennessee Circuit 12 Unanimous Chancery 12 Unanimous Texas District 12 5/6 rule Utah District 8 3/4 rule or majority Vermont Superior 12 Unanimous District 12 Unanimous Virginia Circuit 5/7/p Unanimous Washington Superior 6/q 5/6 rule West Virginia Circuit 6 Unanimous Wisconsin Circuit 6/r 5/6 rule Wyoming District 6/s 5/6 rule Federal Court District 6/t Unanimous Notes: a/Or fewer by agreement of the parties. b/6-member jury unless a jury of 12 is demanded. c/Eminent domain cases require a 12-member jury and an unanimous verdict. d/May stipulate that the jury consist of any number less than 12 or that a verdict or finding of a stated majority of jurors is taken as the verdict or finding of the jury. e/Can stipulate to 6-member jury with 5/6 rule. f/6-member jury unless a jury of 12 is requested. g/7/8 rule applies after 6 hours of deliberation. h/12 member jury if damages are greater than $5,000; otherwise 6. i/5/6 rule applies with 12 jurors; otherwise, must be unanimous. j/Parties may stipulate to a 6-member jury. k/4-member jury if both parties agree. l/5/6 rule after 6 hours of deliberation. m/Parties may stipulate to 4-8 jurors rather than 12. n/Except in actions in which a jury is required by statute, the parties may stipulate that the jury shall consist of any number fewer than 12 or that a verdict or finding of a stated majority of the jurors shall be taken as the verdict or finding of the jury. o/12-member jury if damages are greater tha $2,500; otherwise 6. p/A 12-member jury may be allowed by the judge. q/May demand a 12-member jury. r/A party may request, or the court on its own motion may require, a greater number, not to exceed 12. s/6-member jury unless a jury of 12 is demanded. t/6-member jury unless a jury of 12 is demanded (local rules). Even absent stipulation, if the court finds it necessary to excuse a juror, a valid verdict may be returned by the remaining 11. Source: David B. Rottman, et al. State Court Organization, 1993. National Center for State Courts NCJ 1483468, January 1995. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix B. Selected characteristics of sampled counties Minimum Number of jurisdiction peremptory 1996 Population amount in challenges County Primary city Court name estimate civil cases in jury trials/d Maricopa, AZ Phoenix Superior 2,611,327 $5,000 4 Pima, AZ Tucson Superior 767,873 5,000 4 Alameda, CA Oakland Superior 1,328,139 25,000 6 Contra Costa, CA Martinez Superior 881,490 25,000 6 Fresno, CA Fresno Superior 751,272 25,000 6 Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Superior 3,553,638/a 25,000 6 Orange, CA Santa Ana Superior 2,636,888 25,000 6 San Bernardino, CA San Bernardino Superior 1,598,358 25,000 6 San Francisco, CA San Francisco Superior 735,315 25,000 6 Santa Clara, CA San Jose Superior 1,599,604 25,000 6 Ventura, CA Ventura Superior 714,733 25,000 6 Fairfield, CT Bridgeport Superior 298,469/b 2,000 3 Hartford, CT Hartford Superior 841,777/c 2,000 3 Dade, FL Miami Circuit 2,076,175 15,001 3 Orange, FL Orlando Circuit 758,980 15,001 3 Palm Beach, FL West Palm Beach Circuit 992,840 15,001 3 Fulton, GA Atlanta Superior 718,336 5,000 6 Honolulu, HI Honolulu Circuit 871,766 5,000 3 Cook, IL Chicago Circuit 5,096,540 15,000 5 Dupage, IL Wheaton Circuit 859,310 15,000 5 Marion, IN Indianapolis Superior 817,525 20,000 3 Jefferson, KY Louisville Circuit 673,040 4,000 3 Essex, MA Salem Superior 686,774 25,000 4 Middlesex, MA Cambridge Superior 1,412,561 25,000 4 Norfolk, MA Dedham Superior 637,388 25,000 4 Suffolk, MA Boston Superior 645,068 25,000 4 Worcester, MA Worcester Superior 719,545 25,000 4 Oakland, MI Pontiac Circuit 1,162,098 10,000 3 Wayne, MI Detroit Circuit 2,039,819 10,000 3 Hennepin, MN Minneapolis District 1,058,746 5,000 2 St. Louis, MO St. Louis Circuit 1,003,807 5,000 3 Bergen, NJ Hackensack Superior 846,498 7,500 6 Essex, NJ Newark Superior 755,089 7,500 6 Middlesex, NJ New Brunswick Superior 702,458 7,500 6 New York, NY New York Supreme 1,533,774 25,000 3 Cuyahoga, OH Cleveland Common Pleas 1,401,552 10,000 3 Franklin, OH Columbus Common Pleas 1,013,724 10,000 3 Allegheny, PA Pittsburgh Common Pleas 1,296,037 4,000 4 Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Common Pleas 1,478,002 5,000 4 Bexar, TX San Antonio District 1,318,322 5,000 6 Dallas, TX Dallas District 2,000,192 5,000 6 Harris, TX Houston District 3,126,966 5,000 6 Fairfax, VA Fairfax Circuit 902,492 7,000 3 King, WA Seattle Superior 1,619,411 25,000 3 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee Circuit 922,243 2,000 3 Sources: State Court Organization, 1998, forthcoming. 1996 population estimates for each county came from the U.S. Bureau of the Census website, http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/countypop/html. 1996 population estimates for City of Los Angeles and the towns in the Fairfield and Hartford-New Britain judicial districts came from the U.S. Bureau of the Census website, http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/mcdplace.html. a/See Appendix A for state jury size and state decision rule for jury trials. b/The 1996 population estimate is only for the City of Los Angeles. 1996 civil trial data were only collected for the central district of Los Angeles County Superior Court. Los Angeles suburban courts were not included. c/The 1996 population estimate is for Fairfield judicial district. Towns in Fairfield County, CT are located in 4 judicial districts: Ansonia-Milford, Danbury, Stramford-Norwalk, and Fairfield. 1996 civil trial data were collected only for Fairfield judicial district. The 1996 population estimate for Fairfield County, CT was 833,761. d/The 1996 population estimate for the Hartford-New Britain judicial district. The 1996 population estimate for Hartford County was 831,694. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix C. Trial cases and plaintiff winners by sampled counties, 1996 All cases Jury trials Bench trials Other trials/d Percent Percent Percent Percent plaintiff plaintiff plaintiff plaintiff County Number winners Number winners Number winners Number winners Maricopa, AZ 372 56.1% 337 56.7% 26 61.5% 9 14.3% Pima, AZ 118 65.3 79 62.0 39 71.8 -- -- Alameda, CA 83 47.6 70 43.0 10 77.8 3 66.7 Contra Costa, CA 78 44.9 55 45.5 22 45.5 1 -- Fresno, CA 76 48.7 48 45.8 27 51.9 1 100.0 Los Angeles, CA/b 500 51.9 249 49.8 240 58.9 11 18.2 Orange, CA 463 50.1 298 42.5 162 59.9 3 100.0 San Bernardino, CA 65 40.0 49 34.7 13 61.5 3 33.3 San Francisco, CA 166 52.4 125 51.2 33 63.6 8 25.0 Santa Clara, CA 112 48.2 73 43.8 38 57.9 1 -- Ventura, CA 145 41.4 99 39.4 46 45.7 -- -- Fairfield, CT/c 50 68.0 42 69.0 7 71.4 1 -- Hartford, CT/d 126 58.7 42 47.6 83 63.9 1 100.0 Dade, FL 426 61.5 375 63.6 29 48.3 22 58.3 Orange, FL 94 67.0 73 67.1 19 73.7 2 -- Palm Beach, FL 285 71.9 201 65.7 81 87.7 3 66.7 Fulton, GA 142 35.9 81 55.6 57 10.5 4 -- Honolulu, HI 50 64.0 25 56.0 21 81.0 4 25.0 Cook, IL 564 46.3 483 44.3 56 64.3 25 20.0 Dupage, IL 148 62.2 102 60.8 46 65.2 -- -- Marion, IN 147 70.3 44 56.8 102 78.8 1 100.0 Jefferson, KY 195 58.3 138 59.3 44 63.6 13 30.8 Essex, MA 66 40.9 57 40.4 8 37.5 1 100.0 Middlesex, MA 129 28.7 119 28.6 5 60.0 5 -- Norfolk, MA 69 21.7 64 23.4 3 -- 2 -- Suffolk, MA 91 36.3 77 31.2 14 64.3 -- -- Worcester, MA 59 27.1 50 22.0 9 55.6 -- -- Oakland, MI 199 41.7 146 38.4 45 55.6 8 25.0 Wayne, MI 255 47.5 218 46.8 23 56.5 14 42.9 Hennepin, MN 274 47.1 216 42.6 58 63.8 -- -- St. Louis, MO 196 46.4 148 41.9 38 73.7 10 10.0 Bergen, NJ 219 53.0 147 51.7 68 58.8 4 -- Essex, NJ 140 34.1 120 34.2 12 33.3 8 33.3 Middlesex, NJ 213 36.6 191 31.9 21 81.0 1 -- New York, NY 399 55.9 306 51.6 74 71.6 19 63.2 Cuyahoga, OH 323 52.4 241 45.8 80 68.8 1 -- Franklin, OH 120 55.0 88 56.8 26 61.5 6 -- Allegheny, PA 407 54.8 201 40.8 202 69.3 4 25.0 Philadelphia, PA 401 50.5 364 50.7 36 50.0 1 -- Bexar, TX 331 32.9 143 36.4 175 23.2 13 46.2 Dallas, TX 340 42.9 298 43.0 33 51.5 9 11.1 Harris, TX 1,528 48.3 580 34.9 914 66.9 34 -- Fairfax, VA 271 54.6 198 49.0 66 74.2 7 28.6 King, WA 336 51.8 212 50.9 116 54.3 8 37.5 Milwaukee, WI 242 61.7 152 57.9 88 68.6 2 50.0 --No cases recorded. a/Includes only the central district of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Los Angeles suburban courts are not included. b/Includes only cases for Fairfield judicial district. c/Includes only cases for Hartford-New Britain judicial district. d/Includes cases with a directed verdict judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and jury trials for defaulted defendants. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix D. Final and punitive damage awards for plaintiff winners in jury trials, by sampled counties, 1996 Punitive damages awarded Final amount awarded to plaintiff winners to plaintiff winners Total Number Number number of of plaintiff Total Median of plaintiff Total Median County jury trials winners award award winners award award Maricopa, AZ 337 189 66,716,000 28,000 9 $1,640,000 50,000 Pima, AZ 79 48 16,499,000 27,000 2 145,000 73,000 Alameda, CA 70 30 11,336,000 59,000 -- -- -- Contra Costa, CA 55 23 10,385,000 48,000 2 36,000 18,000 Fresno, CA 48 19 2,478,000 50,000 2 303,000 152,000 Los Angeles, CA/a 249 123 90,642,000 87,000 17 13,188,000 65,000 Orange, CA 298 124 144,885,000 49,000 12 23,219,000 250,000 San Bernardino, CA 49 17 10,839,000 91,000 -- -- -- San Francisco, CA 125 64 27,095,000 98,000 3 3,527,000 500,000 Santa Jose, CA 73 30 6,836,000 64,000 1 2,500 2,500* Ventura, CA 99 39 6,457,000 21,000 3 718,000 10,000 Fairfield, CT/b 42 29 3,221,000 24,000 -- -- -- Hartford, CT/c 42 19 736,000 27,000 -- -- -- Dade, FL 375 239 130,575,000 44,000 13 1,031,000 57,000 Orange, FL 73 48 13,799,000 29,000 -- -- -- Palm Beach, FL 201 132 21,712,000 31,000 2 450,000 225,000 Fulton, GA 81 45 11,030,000 27,000 4 1,093,000 170,000 Honolulu, HI 25 13 5,333,000 26,000 2 800,000 400,000 Cook, IL 483 228 195,842,000 81,000 4 1,305,000 363,000 Dupage, IL 102 62 4,195,000 14,000 4 30,000 8,000 Marion, IN 44 25 2,099,000 23,000 -- -- -- Jefferson, KY 138 78 11,210,000 14,000 7 592,000 30,000 Essex, MA 57 20 1,624,000 40,000 -- -- -- Middlesex, MA 119 32 14,481,000 91,000 2 163,000 81,000 Norfolk, MA 64 15 3,033,000 17,000 -- -- -- Suffolk, MA 77 24 18,695,000 33,000 1 175,000 175,000* Worcester, MA 50 10 1,227,000 27,000 -- -- -- Oakland, MI 146 55 20,455,000 40,000 -- -- -- Wayne, MI 218 93 52,872,000 76,000 1 1,000 1,000* Hennepin, MN 216 91 30,051,000 28,000 2 2,517,000 1,258,000 St. Louis, MO 148 62 5,020,000 15,000 3 237,000 36,000 Bergen, NJ 147 74 14,235,000 46,000 5 756,000 156,000 Essex, NJ 120 40 10,113,000 37,000 -- -- -- Middlesex, NJ 191 61 9,035,000 45,000 2 23,000 12,000 New York, NY 306 158 206,822,000 212,000 3 30,475,000 400,000 Cuyahoga, OH 242 106 11,504,000 23,000 4 237,000 50,000 Franklin, OH 88 50 4,689,000 12,000 3 575,000 75,000 Allegheny, PA 201 79 22,675,000 34,000 2 412,000 206,000 Philadelphia, PA 364 177 97,370,000 150,000 3 615,000 215,000 Bexar, TX 143 52 4,611,000 24,000 2 68,000 34,000 Dallas, TX 298 126 67,060,000 25,000 5 7,636,000 31,000 Harris, TX 580 187 567,204,000 29,000 12 434,715,000 1,800,000 Fairfax, VA 198 95 10,892,000 17,000 2 3,000 1,500 King, WA 212 108 8,777,000 15,000 3 313,000 10,000 Milwaukee, WI 152 82 8,857,000 15,000 1 200 200* Note: Excludes cases with missing final award amounts. Final amount awarded includes both compensatory (reduced for contributory negligence) and punitive damage awards. Award data were rounded to the nearest $1,000. Eminent domain cases are not calculated among final awards because there is always an award; the issue is how much the defendant (whose property is being condemned) will receive for the property. --No cases recorded. *Not a median but the actual amount awarded. a/In one jury trial case, the plaintiff winner was awarded over $40 billion. This case was excluded from the above analysis. b/Includes only the central district of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Los Angeles suburban courts are not included. c/Includes only cases for Fairfield judicial district. d/Includes only cases for Hartford-New Britain judicial district. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix E. Final and punitive damage awards for plaintiff winners in bench trials, by sampled counties, 1996 Final amount awarded to plaintiff winners Punitive damages awarded to plaintiff winners Total Number Number number of of plaintiff Total Median of plaintiff Total Median County bench trials winners award award winners award award Maricopa, AZ 26 16 535000 19000 -- -- -- Pima, AZ 39 28 1282000 19000 2 190000 95000 Alameda, CA 10 6 241000 42000 -- -- -- Contra Costa, CA 22 8 792000 89000 1 1 1 * Fresno, CA 27 13 52143000 61000 1 25183000 25183000 * Los Angeles, CA/a 240 138 25496000 91000 4 202000 53000 Orange, CA 162 97 19140000 46000 7 324000 40000 San Bernardino, CA 13 8 982000 70000 -- -- -- San Francisco, CA 33 21 4643000 54000 1 100000 100000 * Santa Jose, CA 38 21 13276000 79000 3 209000 94000 Ventura, CA 46 21 1532000 51000 2 57000 28000 Fairfield, CT/b 7 4 81000 21000 1 14000 14000 * Hartford, CT/c 83 48 1453000 6000 3 27000 5000 Dade, FL 29 13 6706000 29000 -- -- -- Orange, FL 19 12 699000 29000 -- -- -- Palm Beach, FL 81 71 4953000 31000 -- -- -- Fulton, GA 57 2 363000 182000 -- -- -- Honolulu, HI 21 17 7400000 43000 -- -- -- Cook, IL 56 35 3458000 67000 1 50000 50000 * Dupage, IL 46 30 1294000 15000 2 15000 8000 Marion, IN 102 79 3000000 7000 2 4000 4000 Jefferson, KY 44 28 501000 8000 1 5000 5000 * Essex, MA 8 3 321000 96000 -- -- -- Middlesex, MA 5 2 194000 97000 1 27000 27000 * Norfolk, MA 3 -- -- -- -- -- -- Suffolk, MA 14 9 1375000 75000 -- -- -- Worcester, MA 9 5 128000 14000 -- -- -- Oakland, MI 45 21 1369000 29000 -- -- -- Wayne, MI 23 13 1295000 49000 -- -- -- Hennepin, MN 58 37 1497000 17000 1 100 100 * St. Louis, MO 38 28 4841000 57000 3 561000 36000 Bergen, NJ 68 38 3570000 19000 2 76000 38000 Essex, NJ 12 4 103000 11000 -- -- -- Middlesex, NJ 21 17 1061000 9000 3 238000 85000 New York, NY 74 53 12598000 69000 1 125000 125000 * Cuyahoga, OH 80 49 1743000 20000 2 15000 8000 Franklin, OH 26 16 816000 11000 -- -- -- Allegheny, PA 202 140 1168000 2000 -- -- -- Philadelphia, PA 36 18 3302000 61000 -- -- -- Bexar, TX 175 41 1512000 13000 -- -- -- Dallas, TX 33 17 7225000 22000 -- -- -- Harris, TX 914 567 244150000 37000 67 15260000 44000 Fairfax, VA 66 49 3495000 20000 -- -- -- King, WA 116 62 8885000 20000 1 30000 30000 * Milwaukee, WI 88 54 1490000 8000 1 20000 30000 * Note: Excludes cases with missing final award amounts. Award data were rounded to the nearest $1,000. Final amount awarded includes both compensatory (reduced for contributory negligence) and punitive damage awards. Eminent domain cases are not calculated among final awards because there is always an award; the issue is how much the defendant (whose property is being condemned) will receive for the property. *Not a median but the actual amount awarded. --No cases recorded. a/Includes only the central district of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Los Angeles suburban courts are not included. b/Includes only cases for Fairfield judicial district. c/Includes only cases for Hartford-New Britain judicial district. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bureau of Justice Statistics the statistical agency of the U.S Department of Justice. Jan M.Chaiken, Ph.D., is director. This BJS Bulletin presents the first release of findings in a series of reports from the Civil Justice Suvery of State Courts, 1996. Carol J. DeFrances and Marika F.X. Litras wrote this report. W. Steadman and Todd Minton provided statistical assistance a review. Data collection was supervised by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC); David B.Rottman and Brian J. Ostrom, were the project co-directors. John Goerdt, formerly with the NCSC, was the first project dicector. Neil LaFountain of the NCSC provided data assistance. Rhonda C. Keith produced the report. Tom Hester edited it. Marilyn Marbrook administered final production, assisted by Yvonne Boston. June 1999, NCJ 172855 end of report August 1999 IH