More Jurors Resentful of Corporations—and Plaintiff Windfalls, Studies Show

There’s good news and bad news for corporate defendants in new studies with mock jurors.

The recession is likely playing out in jury rooms as mock jurors increasingly blame Wall Street and big business for the downturn, according to an article by researchers Tara Trask and Linda Petersen in The Jury Expert. More jurors are likely to have recently lost their jobs, resulting in anger, fear and cynicism.

But the anti-corporate attitude is being tempered by fears among an increasing number of mock jurors that large awards will result in job losses at the defendant company. And there is a rise in one type of jury personality that is a defense lawyer’s dream—the kind of person who doesn’t think a plaintiff should get something for nothing.

A study of 116 mock jurors from Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma indicates that the larger and wealthier the company, the less jurors trust them, Trask and Petersen write. Even in disputes between large corporations, jurors tend to view the larger company as the “big guy" who is out to get the “little guy,” the article says.

Indeed, 74 percent of the respondents in a community attitude survey of New York jury-eligible residents said they believe the United States is experiencing an economic crisis because senior level-corporate executives acted with greed and carelessness. Almost half said that if the U.S. government accuses a senior-level corporate executive of financial fraud, he or she probably did it.

However, in recent months, the researchers observed a sharp increase in concerns among deliberating mock jurors that a big pro-plaintiff verdict will put more people out of work because of a trickle-down effect.

The researchers also note an interesting surprise. “One type of personality that is appearing more and more in these times is the one who simply does not want a plaintiff to get something ‘for nothing’ (even if that ‘nothing’ is ownership of a patent),” they write. “They seem to resent the idea that, while their own hard work has yielded very little, someone else may get millions. It’s the ‘if I can’t have it, you can’t have it’ mentality and it is particularly resistant to large damage awards. From the plaintiffs’ perspective, identifying those jurors is crucial.”

The article also advises lawyers to be aware of how their own courtroom presentation may rankle jurors. Jurors plagued by economic worries may have trouble concentrating and may be looking for a target for their anger. “Clarity, brevity and a respect for jurors’ time has always been important—it is even more so now.”