Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Juries, Hindsight, And Punitive Damages Awards: Reply To Richard Lempert, W. Kip Viscusi
Juries, Hindsight, And Punitive Damages Awards: Reply To Richard Lempert, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Richard Lempert, a Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Michigan criticized our recent article on judge and jury performance of a punitive damage judgment task, calling it a "failure of a social science case for change." Professor Lempert's depiction of our research is confusing and incorrect. However, because we believe a reading of only the Lempert critique can lead to a substantial misunderstanding of our research and its implications, we have written a reply.
Punitive Damages: How Jurors Fail To Promote Efficiency, W. Kip Viscusi
Punitive Damages: How Jurors Fail To Promote Efficiency, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Evidence of corporate risk-cost balancing often leads to inefficient punitive damages awards, suggesting that jurors fail to base their decision making on principles of economic efficiency. In this Article, Professor Viscusi presents the results of two experiments regarding jury behavior and punitive damages. In the first experiment, Professor Viscusi found that mock jurors punish companies for balancing risk against cost, although award levels vary depending on how the economic analysis is presented at trial. The results of the second experiment suggested that mock jurors are unwilling or unable to follow a set of model jury instructions designed to generate efficient …