ASSIMILATION TO ANCHORS FOR DAMAGE AWARDS IN A MOCK CIVIL TRIAL

Some judicial reforms propose that limits on damage awards in civil tr ials will lower the amounts awarded while still maintaining perception s of justice. This article describes research that examines the impact of damage award limits on mock juror judgments. Existing theory sugge sts that limits will serve as anchors for the mock jurors' judgments. Predictions that damage awards would move toward the anchor introduced by a limit were supported. This research suggests that depending on t he location of the anchor on the response scale, limits may not have t he intended effects. Instead, limits may actually increase damage awar ds, and may also reduce juror's perceptions of fairness of the damage award judgments.