Misconception: The Court System Weeds out Meritless Lawsuits

During our decade-plus of litigation research, we have noted a longstanding misconception among jurors that if a lawsuit makes it to trial, then the plaintiff’s case must have some merit.  In fact, our own polling of jurors nationwide showed an overwhelming 78 percent expressed this perception.

This misconception is also fueled by the widespread belief there is some “mechanism” that weeds out junk or meritless lawsuits from the system.  Many people are generally aware court systems are overloaded and municipalities have limited financial resources, and assume the courts work tirelessly to eliminate warrantless matters from the docket.

Further compounding perceptions that the plaintiff’s side automatically has some credibility is the fact so few lawsuits are actually decided in a courtroom.  In fact, a 2013 study conducted by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America revealed that only two percent of tort lawsuits ever make it trial annually.

Again, these kinds of statistics bolster the belief that if a case is one of the few that has “made it this far,” and hasn’t been thrown out or settled by now, it must automatically have some legitimacy.

As you can imagine, this misconception can put the defense team at a significant disadvantage.  So, rather than running from this major misconception, or hoping your jury panel is one of the rare ones that doesn’t feel that way, you might be better off acknowledging the topic during voir dire.  Not only can it help to identify jurors who are leaning toward the plaintiff before hearing a word from either side, it also allows jurors to consider alternative reasons why they are all sitting in the jury box, including unrealistic plaintiff demands, the possibility the wrong party is being sued or even the firm belief the defendants acted reasonably.

If you would like to discuss other issues that could benefit from some “priming” during voir dire, contact Senior Vice President Claire Luna at 714.754.1010 or cluna@juryimpact.net.