June, 2000
Jury Awards in Malpractice Cases Rise.

Author/s: Lori Widmer

The verdict is in--the national medical malpractice jury award rose 46 percent in 1998, up from $515,738 in 1997 to $755,530. The jump is the highest in the last 10 years, according to information included in the annual Current Award Trends in Personal Injury, published by LRP Publications. Yet even with the increase injury awards, the plaintiff recovery rate for medical malpractice--the number of plaintiff verdicts to defense verdicts--dropped 1 percent.

Of all the medical malpractice verdicts analyzed, plaintiffs who sued for medical negligence in childbirth cases were awarded the highest median award, $2 million. Coming in a distant second were cases involving medication, paying a median award of $636,000. Misdiagnoses accounted for an average of $625,000 in awards, as well. Median awards for other types of malpractice cases included $400,000 for nonsurgical treatment cases; $300,00 for surgical negligence cases; and $230,000 for doctor-patient relations cases. Yet medical malpractice liabilities comprised only 4 percent of the total liability cases.

"It's difficult to tell how juries are treating medical malpractice cases," says Dave Boxold, the study's editor. "On one hand you have medical malpractice plaintiffs winning almost 60 percent more money over the last two years; but on the other you have those same plaintiffs winning just 36 percent of the time their cases go to trial--one percent less than last year."

The overall trends analysis shows that the most commonly reported injuries are back strains associated with vehicular liabilities, which account for 20 percent of the total of plaintiff verdicts. Disc damage accounted for 10 percent, with death and spinal nerve injuries each measuring 6 percent of the total. Emotional distress, knee, leg, and head injuries were responsible for 4 percent of the verdicts.

The most astounding jump came from product liability settlements--up a whopping 137 percent from 1997 to 1998. Boxold said that awards went from a median of $556,690 in 1997 to $1.3 million in 1998. From 1992 through 1998, 11 percent of compensatory awards were for $5 million or more, while 87 percent were for $50,000 or more.

The most frequent injuries involved claims for death and asbestos, accounting for 16 percent and 13 percent of the total, respectively.

"Overall, personal injury awards tend to be around $48,000 and have remained relatively constant since 1992," says Boxold. "However, awards for specific types of personal injury cases--medical malpractice and products liability--have increased significantly in recent years."

The annual study, conducted by Jury Verdict Research, analyzes jury-verdict trends for selected injuries and liabilities. Five- to 10-year-jury-verdict trends have been calculated since 1965. The current study, which summarized personal injury verdicts from 1992 through 1998, reported an increase in most major liabilities. This year's report also included state-specific statistical charts on compensatory, punitive and million-dollar awards, the percentage of verdicts won by plaintiffs, and verdict values for commonly claimed injuries.

New this year are measures of personal and business negligence awards. Intentional gunshots were the highest in the personal negligence arena, coming in at a median of $233,431. Yet the most frequently reported injury was emotional distress, which accounted for 18 percent of the total plaintiff verdicts. Sexual offense awards topped $105,000, and accidental gunshot awards totaled $100,000.

More than 168,000 plaintiff and defense verdicts, as well as settlements resulting from personal injury claims, make up the annual study. The data is reported, tabulated, and analyzed to determine values trends, as well as deviations for over 400 injuries and 300 liabilities. This information is then sent to attorneys for both plaintiffs and defense, in addition to insurance companies.

"Personal injury plaintiff and defense attorneys and insurance professionals evaluate their personal injury cases and claims using Jury Verdict Research," says Boxold. The data is also used for attorney requests for case-specific evaluations and verdict finders.