The effects of defendant conduct on jury damage awards

Laws of negligence dictate that jurors' decisions about damages be influenc ed by the severity of plaintiffs' injuries and not by the reprehensibility of defendants' conduct. The authors simulated an automobile negligence tria l to assess whether jurors' decisions are in accord with those expectations . Conduct of the defendant and severity of the plaintiff's injuries were ma nipulated, Jurors listened to the evidence, completed predeliberation quest ionnaires, deliberated as a jury, and completed postdeliberation questionna ires. Severity of the plaintiffs injury had a strong impact on damage award s, but evidence related to the defendant's conduct was also influential, pa rticularly when the plaintiffs injuries were mild. Here, jurors with any co nduct-related evidence gave larger damage awards than jurors with no conduc t-related evidence. Findings suggest an effect of defendant conduct on dama ge awards that may be mediated by judgments that the defendant was negligen t.