"Runaway" Jury Verdicts Rarely Occur

Bruce Gibson

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In a study published in the May edition of the Michigan Law Review, Professor Philip D. Peters, Jr. states that

The efforts of the Bush administration to reform the tort system on medical malpractice and decrying 'runaway' jury verdicts was phony.

Our jury system favors the defendant doctor in a medical malpractice case and juries are more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the defendant doctor in a case where the evidence is confusing or complicated. Other reasons for the success in defending doctors in malpractice cases include the defending insurance company's superior economic resources and the defendant doctor's social standing, as well as cultural prohibitions against a plaintiff seeming to profit from an injury.
Source: Washington Post