This claim can be tested by looking to the median rather than
the average damages award.
Damages awards in new media cases (internet and email) appear slightly lower than average: the average total damages award for all cases in the 2003 - 2013 period was $ 61,662, whereas
the average damages award for a new media case was $ 57,386.
The median total award in the 1973 - 83 period was $ 12,671, which is less than half of
the average damages award of $ 27,464.
Such an uneven distribution would mean that
the average damages award does not reflect the kind of damages most plaintiffs can expect if they establish liability.
The average damages awards for cases involving journalistic publications (newspaper, television or radio broadcast) versus non-journalism cases were compared.
Since 2011, we have seen a record number of patent lawsuits filed, and
the average damages awarded have reached a new high.
Not exact matches
If this doesn't sound like much, it's not, especially considering that the
average award in an auto liability case is $ 300,000, and the
average property
damage claim runs around $ 7,000.
It points to the analysis of an amicus showing that the
average punitive
damages award in a products liability case in Oregon is less than the national
average.
While we welcome respondent's introduction of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of Oregon's legal rules, its statistics are undermined by the fact that the Oregon
average is computed from only two punitive
damages awards.
Prior to Kelly, the highest
damages awarded for injury to dignity was $ 35,000 and the
average was around $ 5000.
Jury Verdict Research found that the
average money
damage award for personal injury trials in California is $ 1,814,094.
For these 40 cases, the
average total
damages award was $ 95,219.
In order to determine whether the large increase in
damages awards is evident within the studied periods, or whether it occurred largely in between 1983 and 2003, I determined the annual
average defamation
award.
The
average for all cases in 2003 - 13 was $ 3662 ($ 14,002 considering only cases in which punitive
damages were
awarded).
Thus, although the Service undoubtedly has utility, and Westlaw is working to eliminate duplicates and adjust
damages for inflation, I consider the Service's data for things like the number of
awards, and
average and median
damages awards to be unreliable at this time.
In the 2003 - 13 data, punitive
damages were
awarded to human plaintiffs 20 % of the time (in 28/143 cases) with an
average award of $ 6,593.
In the 2003 - 2013 cases, the
average aggravated
damages award (again, only among cases in which aggravated
damages were
awarded) was lower — $ 30,560 — but that is effectively meaningless, given that there were only two
awards in 1973 - 83.
The study has a number of interesting results: it demonstrates that the
average non-pecuniary
damages award has more than doubled between the two periods studied — even when adjusted for inflation.
The
average general
damages award in 2003 - 13 is 2.4 times as high as that in 2003 - 13, which is similar to the size of the increase for total
damages.
Recall that the overall
average total
damages award was $ 61,662.
The
average total
damages award in the 2003 - 13 cases ($ 61,662) is more than double (2.2 times) what it was between 1973 - 83 ($ 27,464) when adjusted for inflation.
According to DOJ, in 2005, compensatory
damages awarded to plaintiff winners were reduced in 15 percent of tort trials, with such
awards being reduced by 40 percent on
average.
The financial
damage of employee lawsuits can be dramatic; the cost of settling out of court
averages $ 75,000, and the
average jury
award hits $ 217,000 if you go to court and lose.