Year In Review. Fifth Edition. Published January 2016

Transcription

1 The Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter Year In Review 2015 Fifth Edition Published January 2016 Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter 9462 Brownsboro Road, No. 133 Louisville, Kentucky Juryverdicts.net Copyright 2016 The Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter All Rights Reserved Reproduction in any form, including office copy machines, or publication in newsletters or reporters, in whole or in part, is forbidden, unethical and prohibited by law, except where advance written permission is granted.

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3 Using the MSJVR 2015 Year in Review Finding Cases from a Particular County, Region, or Judge Turn to the Case Index Directory, p. 219, and find the desired region. Cases are then sorted by case style within the region. The Case Index Directory includes both page number and case index number for each region, and style of case. Verdicts are also sorted by Judge and County. For Judges, see page 141, and for the cases sorted by county, turn to page 131. Also please note that in this volume when referring to case from federal court in Jackson, it will appear as Fed-Jackson. A case from Jackson Circuit Court (Pascagoula) is denoted as Jackson. Finally and this one is obvious, a Circuit Court case from Jackson, MS will is marked as Hinds. Finding Cases Tried by a Particular Attorney Turn to the Attorney Index, p. 158, which is sorted alphabetically. Next to each attorney s name are the case index numbers for the cases they have tried. As well, the case index number is preceded by an abbreviation, denoting the type of case that was tried. With this number, find the individual case in the Case Index, as the cases are arranged sequentially. Finding Particular Case Styles (i.e. Auto Negligence, Slip and Fall) Turn to the Case Index Directory, which besides sorting cases by region, also sorts cases within the region by case style. For each region, the cases are sorted by case type, beginning with auto negligence; each section also has a miscellaneous section. Also please see the Table of Contents for particular reports on all sorts of subjects. Finding Statistics and Average Verdicts Results A good start is the Combined Verdict Summary, p. 1, which summarizes statewide verdict results for the several generic categories. More specifically, the individual reports listed in the Table of Contents provide detailed statistics and averages for that type of case. Also See Definitions and Conventions, p. iii, for further discussion of using this volume. i

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5 Definitions and Conventions Explanation of the Conventions Used in This Volume The Regions We have arbitrarily divided Mississippi geographically into the following six regions. Throughout this text, when evaluating verdict results, and averages, it is done within the context of these regions. As well, the case index is sorted first by these regions, then by case style. They are: Hinds County Gulf Coast Southern Mississippi Central Mississippi North East Mississippi North West Mississippi The Cases & Timing of Reporting The cases that are included represent all reported jury verdicts in the MSJVR in the 2015 issues. Our study then does not represent perfectly the number of cases that were tried in the calender year While there are no strict guidelines for inclusion, it tends to run from November to November, representing twelve months of data. For instance, December 2015 verdicts will be reported in the January 2016 issue, and will thus appear in the 2016 Year in Review. However, over any considerable period of time, even in the MSJVR calender year which runs from November to November, our coverage is as close to complete as an imperfect judicial system provides. It is also important to note that there is only one litmus test for whether a case is reported: Was there a jury verdict? If the answer is yes and we find it, a verdict summary will be reported. The timing of when it is reported can be affected by the ability of court personnel to locate the file, among other factors. The Case Index At the end of the various reports, a case index is maintained which contains the full text story of the 89 reported cases. These stories are sorted by region, then style of case. Please refer to the Case Index Directory for particular case styles. The Case Index Number Each of the 89 cases in the Case Index has been assigned a unique case index number, such that at any time, a particular case may be referenced within the Case Index. While the Case Index is separated by region and style of case, it is also in sequential order. For instance if a report referred you to case # 589, one may simply find the full story in the Case Index by looking sequentially for case # 589. Similarly, if one wanted to read all the Medical Malpractice cases from Hinds County, simply turn to the Case Index Directory, immediately preceding the Case Index, which then reveals that those cases are contained at Case Index Numbers The Average Verdict & The Average Plaintiff s Verdict Throughout this volume, when analyzing verdict results, we have taken two averages. The first is the average verdict, which represents the aggregate jury awards for that subject, divided by all cases. The average plaintiff s verdict iii

6 represents the aggregate jury awards divided only by verdicts for plaintiffs, excluding zero verdicts. These figures are usually presented together. Win-Loss Records & Percentages In evaluating various verdict results, we represent same in terms of a win-loss record, similar to what is used in the sports pages. For instance in 2011 the Hinds County Medical Malpractice Win-Loss Record was 6-6, representing 6 verdicts for plaintiff, 6 for the defense. The Win-Loss Percentage for that data would then be 50.0%, or 6 of 12 verdicts for plaintiffs. iv

7 The Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter 2015 Year in Review Table of Contents Using the 2014 Year in Review Definitions & Conventions Summaries & Totals p. i p. iii Combined Verdict Summary p. 1 The Million Dollar Verdicts p. 6 Chances of Million Dollar Verdict p. 7 Million Dollar Cases at a Glance p. 8 The Case Type Reports The Auto Negligence Report p. 17 The Largest Verdicts p. 20 Verdict Ranges p. 22 The Premises Liability Report p. 23 Premises Liability Verdict Ranges p. 25 Verdicts at a Glance p. 26 The Medical Malpractice Report p 's Largest Verdicts p. 36 Synopsis by Category p. 42 Verdicts by Type of Medicine p. 45 Medical Verdict Ranges p. 46 General Negligence Verdicts p. 47 The Products Liability Report p. 59 The Death Cases p. 65 Death Cases at a Glance p. 69 Employment Discrimination Verdicts p. 73 Aggregate Totals by Case Type p. 82 The Civil Rights Report p. 85 Contract/Commercial Tort Verdicts p. 88 Miscellaneous Tort Verdicts p. 98 Alienation of Affection to Dogbites and more The Damage Reports Loss of Consortium Report p. 105 Loss of Consortium Averages p. 106 Consortium Verdict Ranges p. 107 The Punitive Damages Report p. 108 Punitive Verdict Ranges p. 108 Punitives by Case Type p. 109 The 2015 Mississippi Damages Report p. 111 The 2015 Non-Economic Damages Report p. 118 Miscellaneous Topics The Most Prolific Attorneys p. 121 The Most Prolific Law Firms p. 124 Jury Questions in 2015 p. 126 The Index Reports Verdicts by County p. 131 Verdicts by Judge p. 141 The 2015 Attorney Index p. 158 The Case Index The Case Index Directory The Guide to the Case Index p. 219 The Case Index Hinds County p. 221 Gulf Coast p. 239 Southern Mississippi p. 257 Central Mississippi p. 264 North East Mississippi p. 272 North West Mississippi p. 279 v