Publication Date
2017
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
Sturm College of Law
Keywords
Liability determinations, Per diem calculation, Lump sum demand
Abstract
Non-economic damages (pain and suffering) are the most significant and variable components of liability. Our survey of fifty-one U.S. jurisdictions shows wide heterogeneity in whether attorneys may quantify damages as time-units of suffering (per diem) or demand a specific amount (lump sum). Either sort of large number could exploit an irrational anchoring effect. We performed a realistic, online, video-based experiment with 732 human subjects. We replicated prior work showing that large lump sum demands drive larger jury verdicts, but surprisingly found no effect of similarly-sized per diem anchors. We did find per diem effects on binary liability outcomes, and thus expected case values, and we discuss potential causal mechanisms, based in the cognitive science literature. This empirical work contradicts the speculations by scholars and courts that per diem arguments powerfully impact damage awards by exploiting juror irrationality. Nonetheless, our data surprisingly shows per diem arguments enhancing the expected value of cases by increasing win rates, perhaps because they allow plaintiffs to explain the basis for a large request. This latter dynamic would not seem to justify the proscription currently employed in some jurisdictions.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. Originally published as John Campbell, Bernard Chao & Christopher Robertson, Time Is Money: An Empirical Assessment of Non-Economic Damages Arguments, 95 WASH. U. L. REV. 1 (2017).
Rights Holder
John Campbell, Bernard Chao, Christopher Robertson
Provenance
Received from author
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
52 pgs
File Size
2.9 MB
Publication Title
Washington University Law Review
Volume
95
First Page
1
Last Page
52
ISSN
2166-8000
Recommended Citation
John Campbell, Bernard Chao & Christopher Robertson, Time Is Money: An Empirical Assessment of Non-Economic Damages Arguments, 95 WASH. U. L. REV. 1 (2017).