Jurors’ perceptions of big corporations, insurance companies, drug
companies, physicians and other healthcare providers is increasingly
colored by TV and social media.
The same is true for
people’s understanding of the practice law or medicine, which may be as
wrong as it is immovable. “Social inflation” refers to rising litigation
costs and the resulting higher insurance payouts which drive up the
cost of insurance. The phrase has taken on new meanings as it is used in
the general press. To some it means tort reform rollbacks, litigation
funding, and is most often seen in references to so-called “nuclear”
jury verdicts, i.e., awards that exceed $10 million.
What factors contribute to these exorbitantly high jury verdicts?
Our guests today wrote in the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation:
“These outsize awards are often driven by myriad factors including
sympathetic jurors, societal conceptions about income and wealth of
corporations, the use of emotion-driven ‘Reptile Theory’ tactics by
plaintiff attorneys, the media spotlight on ‘bad apple’ physicians, and
numerous other social factors. A new factor that influences elevated
jury verdicts is the increasing volume of information—whether true or
false—that is exchanged on social media platforms.”
Listen to my interview with Hall Booth Smith attorneys Sandra Cianflone, Samantha Myers, and Lindsay Nishan, each of whom represents members of the healthcare industry, as they discuss what drives large verdict and what attorneys should consider in mitigating the effects of this phenomenon.
In keeping with
tradition, we may have strayed a bit from the topic. One guest’s Aunt
Lulu made an appearance. It turns out Covid lockdowns may have produced
more enthusiastic jurors. And I added another reason why writing and
podcasting, and not the practice of law, was a better career path for
me. (Apparently lawyers aren’t supposed to laugh in people’s faces.
Noted.)
This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation, a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media,
and Docket Alarm. The podcast itself is a joint effort between HB and
our friends at Law Street Media. If you have comments or wish to
participate in one our projects, or want to tell me how much you
learned from Sandie, Sam, Lindsay, or Aunt Lulu, please drop me a note
at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.
