NCJ Number
128118
Date Published
1985
Length
127 pages
Annotation
This report examines how various types of parties fared in over 9,000 civil jury trials in Cook County, Ill., between 1959 and 1979.
Abstract
This study builds on two previous studies of civil jury trials in Cook County. Those studies found substantial disparities in outcomes for various types of lawsuits, even after accounting for the types and seriousness of plaintiffs' injuries and the amount of claimed economic losses. The analyses in this report describe variations in outcomes for various types of litigants. The analyses found that litigants' chances in a lawsuit depended on their characteristics after accounting for types of lawsuit; plaintiffs' injuries and losses; and characteristics of other parties. Corporate defendants paid damages one-third larger than those individual defendants had to pay, and government defendants paid even more than corporations. Corporations, however, fared worse than all other defendants in lawsuits where plaintiffs claimed very severe injuries; they not only had to pay for higher damages but also were significantly more likely to be found liable. Among individual litigants, blacks lost more often than whites, both as plaintiffs and defendants, and black plaintiffs received smaller awards. Black defendants, however, paid less than their white counterparts. The observed patterns among litigants could reflect differences in liability issues among trials or other case features for which this study could not completely account. 9 figures, 58 tables, and 19 references