Define the Narrative – Before Jurors Do it For You

During a recent focus group session, plaintiff-leaning participants explained their verdicts by citing three primary arguments – each concise, clear and based on nearly bulletproof logic.  The problem?  The plaintiffs themselves weren’t actually making any of these arguments.

Despite repeatedly pointing this out to jurors, we saw the same arguments surface throughout the three-hour exercise.  Because jurors viewed the plaintiff’s causation theory as complicated and somewhat disjointed, those intent on giving money to the severely injured child quickly came up with their own criticisms that better fit within the narrative they believed the plaintiff’s case should be.

Without revealing case specifics, jurors viewed the situation as a classic “missed diagnosis” case with doctors who failed to “dig deeper” to uncover a rare, underlying disease in time to prevent injury.  The problem is, the plaintiff’s experts weren’t arguing that the defendant doctors should have diagnosed this incredibly rare disorder – they were only arguing that these caregivers should have “followed up more” with the patient’s primary care doctors regarding additional testing – an argument many jurors found tenuous at best.  

During many research sessions on an array of cases, we have observed this same juror tendency to come up with their own narrative – especially when the actual criticisms and/or defense storylines are unclear or vague – highlighting the importance of establishing from early on not only what a case is about, but also what is isn’t about.

In this case, based on the research findings from Group One, from the outset of the second session we laid out the basic plaintiff and defense arguments for jurors, and also established the issues neither side was arguing, leading to a more streamlined discussion and, ultimately, a more defense-oriented group.

Regardless of the type of case, before heading to trial it’s crucial to first understand how jurors view the case on its face, and what kind of narrative they naturally gravitate toward.  That way, your team has the opportunity to explain to trial jurors what the case is not about, what it is actually about and the specific arguments being made, and what jurors are truly there to decide.  If you’d like our advice on how best to develop your specific trial message, contact Senior Vice President Claire Luna at 714-754-1010 or cluna@juryimpact.net.