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Blindfolding the Jury to Verdict Consequences: Damages, Experts, and the Civil Jury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Shari Seidman Diamond  and
Jonathan D. Casper
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Abstract

This research examines the behavior of jurors as active information processors. Our experimental examination of the performance of the civil jury in response to a complex price-fixing case varies the information provided to jurors about the consequences of their damage award decisions (i.e., the treble damage rule) and the type of expert testimony (statistical models vs. concrete yardstick models). We find, consistent with a picture of the jury as active rather than passive, that jurors are more likely to follow judicial instructions when they are given explanations rather than bald admonitions. In addition, complex expert testimony neither overpowers the jurors nor is dismissed by them. The expert presenting a statistical model is viewed as having higher expertise but lower clarity; as a result the statistical expert and the expert presenting a more concrete model are not significantly different in their persuasiveness. Finally, in contrast to most research on the criminal jury, we find that deliberations do affect jury awards.

Type
The Active Juror
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , 1992 , pp. 513 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by The Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

This research received support from the American Bar Foundation, the Law and Social Sciences Program of the National Science Foundation (Grant #SES-8922582), and the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research of Northwestern University. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 1991 Law & Society Meetings in Amsterdam in June 1991. We are indebted to Judge Frank W. Barbaro and Court Administrator Jeff Arnold who provided us with access to adults called for jury service, and to the juryroom supervisor, Frank Geraci, and juryroom officers, Pat Novak and Mary Leskaro whose kindness with the jurors make the courthouse a congenial place for jury service. Associate Dean James Faught, Professor James Carey, and audio visual expert Rick Partyka of Loyola Law School made it possible for us to videotape the multiple versions of our trial in a realistic courtroom setting. We were also enormously fortunate to have an enthusiastic and extremely capable group of research assistants: Linda Dimitropoulos, Scott Barclay, Lynne Ostergren, and Elizabeth Murphy; and undergraduates Otto Beatty III, Julie Bernstein, Gabriella Gonzalez, Karen Harris, James Hurt, and Lori Thomas, who were supported on summer research fellowships from NSF and the ABF. Finally, we are grateful for suggestions from Rick Lempert, Frank Munger, and Neil Vidmar.

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