Employment Discrimination Verdicts Up; Look to Settle Anyway
AbaJournal.com reported recently that the median employment discrimination verdict rose 70 percent in 2007 to $252,000 from $147,000 in 2006. The post also reports that employers won only 38 percent of the cases that went to the jury.
The post was by Jill Schachner Chanen was based on a report by Jury Verdict Research (“Employing the Law.”)
Although these numbers are interesting and somewhat useful, neither employers nor employees should depend too much on them. Many jury verdicts are reduced at some point after trial - - either by settlement to avoid a costly, time-consuming appeal or by the Court for various legal reasons. And, the amount of the verdict gives no indication of what the client actually recovered after costs.
Sometimes clients, hurt and embittered by the controversy, are confused when they are counseled to settle a case. Having hired attorneys to litigate, they wonder why don’t we want to litigate to the end? Lawyers are probably well-aware of the issues but for our non-lawyer readers: there are a number good reasons but one very good one is to exert a degree of control and achieve a degree of certainty as to what will be recovered by the client (when plaintiff) or what the litigation will cost (when defendant).
Some cases will inevitably have to go to trial but for most, despite the apparent uptick in the size of verdicts, it’s still far better to look to settle the case.
