Bigger Awards for Product Liability

Jan. 30 -- It's not just in your imagination. From motor vehicle injuries to dangerous children's toys, juries are awarding consumers ever-larger cash awards in trials over defective products.

From 1993 to 1999, the median jury award has more than tripled, from $500,300 to more than $1.8 million, not including punitive damages, according to a study of 2,751 product-liability verdicts released today by LRP Publications, a Horsham, Pa.-based group that maintains a nationwide database of verdicts and settlements resulting from personal injury claims.

But the trend toward top-dollar jury awards isn't all good news for consumers. As the awards creep up in price, increased costs and procedural changes are forcing many lawyers to accept fewer of these cases, preventing some consumers from having their day in court.

The Laws of Natural Selection

Legal experts say the trend is largely due to court rulings that have changed the rules of product-liability trials in recent years. Since 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court has handed down a series of decisions effectively heightening standards for expert witness testimony and making it more expensive and difficult to bring product-liability cases to trial.

As a result, experts say, plaintiffs' attorneys are being choosier about their clients.

"It's the legal version of natural selection," says Robert T. Cunningham, an attorney in Mobile, Ala. "What happens is we tend to only take those cases in which there are severe injuries and where fault is very clear."

Reflecting this trend, according to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the number of product liability cases filed in federal court is half what it was four years ago, falling from 32,856 in 1997 to 14,428 in 2000.

Being more discriminating about taking such cases, experts say, makes economic sense for many trial attorneys. To mount a product-liability case with a likelihood of success, attorneys must put together an impressive roster of expert witnesses. The cost of getting such a case to trial these days can reach up to a quarter of $1 million.