By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When civil litigation is being discussed by those outside the courtroom and outside the legal field, what stands out is often the perception, at least, of very high damages. The high-dollar figure being awarded, based on a questionable claim, is the poster child for the abuses of litigation. But for […]
Normalize Your Damages: Five Ways Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For plaintiffs, the topic of monetary damages can be a bit of a mystery. In making the request to a jury, the appropriately named ad damnum, the question is: How much? Obviously, more is better, but common sense and experience probably tell you that there is a point at which higher
Damages: Know Your Anchor Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In the long-running legal battle between mobile phone titans Apple and Samsung, the former just received a verdict of $539 million for the latter’s infringement of five design and utility patents. After spending days on the calculations, the San Jose jury returned an amount that seemed to be driven by calculations: exactly $533,316,606
Remember, With Damages It’s the Message and Not Just the Math Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is well-known at this point that civil trials are giving way to settlements. One of the factors that make settlement the more attractive alternative is that settlement is an uncertainty-reduction strategy: The known amount of cash in or out of pocket reduces the risk of the unknown for both
Consider How Jurors Arrive at Damages Numbers: In Stages and With Difficulty Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Flip a coin, roll the dice, pick a number, throw a dart — there is no shortage of metaphors for the perceived randomness of juries. That belief that “anything can happen,” is applied to some extent to the whole jury model, but nowhere more so than on the topic of
Make Your Damages Numbers Meaningful Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Shoot for the moon,” that motivational saying goes, “and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Sounds nice, until the cynics (the kind who write demotivational posters) add, “…and die in the cold abyss of space.” Both the feel-good and the sarcastic versions of that sentiment have a
Counter the Plaintiff’s Damages Anchor (Especially When It’s Overboard) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When your jury returns a verdict, who is actually speaking? Literally, of course, it is the foreperson speaking for the six to twelve on that jury. But more broadly, it is also the six to twelve speaking for the community. In some form or another, those individuals are reflecting the
Hear the Community’s Voice in Your Jury’s Damages Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – Aristotle, the original philosopher of communication, wrote in The Nicomachean Ethics about “the Golden Mean, ” or the idea that virtue is often a happy medium between two vices (for example, courage is the virtue wedged between the vices of recklessness on the one hand, and cowardice on the other). More
Aim Your Damages, And Your Case, at “The Golden Mean” Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – This blog frequently covers recent psychological or communications research bearing on legal persuasion, and an important question is how well results hold up when leaving the laboratory and entering the courtroom. One example is the phenomenon of damage “anchoring,” or the advantage gained when one side offers an ad damnum number as a starting point for jury deliberations.
When Arguing Damages, “Drop Anchor” Even in Murky Waters Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm – We all remember Aesop’s fable of the happy-go-lucky grasshopper who played away the summer while the ants worked industriously. When winter came, and the hungry grasshopper ended up at the ant’s door, the moral of the story became clear: entitlement, the feeling that the world owes you a living,
Spot the Jurors Who Feel Entitled to Award Higher Damages Read More »