Articles Tagged with Tennessee jury trial statistics

What to know more about the explosion of personal injury and wrongful death jury verdicts in Tennessee? A report released by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts revealed that the following Tennessee counties did not award one penny in damages in any tort case for the year ended June 30, 2011: 

District 1 – *Johnson, *Unicoi

District 3 – Hamblen, Hancock, *Hawkins

Tennessee jury verdicts were down substantially in 2010-11, according to data released by the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. 

Total damages awarded  in tort cases in state court were only $32,051,326, down by a little over 60% from a year earlier, when the total damages awarded  was over $91,000,000.  These numbers include jury and non-jury cases.

The average verdict or judgment  was $168,691,  down over 600% from a year earlier, when the average verdict was over $400,000.  The average verdict includes only those trials in which the fact-finder returned an award of money damages.  It does not include defense or no-money awards. 

As I mentioned in three previous posts,  Shannon Ragland of the Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter has graciously agreed to permit me to share some of the information he has gathered concerning jury trials in Tennessee.

This multi-part series will discuss some of the data contained in Shannon’s 359-page 2009 report.  You can buy the report yourself for $175.00.  It is well worth the money.  Click here to buy the report.  The same link will permit you to order Shannon’s monthly newsletter.

Shannon’s 2009 report gathers data about the most common retail defendants in premises cases, employment discrimination cases, dog bite cases, loss of consortium awards, soft tissue cases and more.   I think I have gone about far enough in giving away the data he collected and sells (at a reasonable price, I might add) but I will go a little bit further and talk about one more subject.

As I mentioned in two previous posts,  Shannon Ragland of the Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter has graciously agreed to permit me to share some of the information he has gathered concerning jury trials in Tennessee.

This multi-part series will discuss some of the data contained in Shannon’s 359-page report.  You can buy the report yourself for $175.00.  It is well worth the money.  Click here to buy the report.  The same link will permit you to order Shannon’s monthly newsletter.

Today we look at medical malpractice verdicts.  There were 32 trials in Tennessee in 2009.  Plaintiffs won 9 of those cases, and the defense won 23.  Seven of those cases were tried in Nashville and  five were tried in Memphis.

As I mentioned in last Tuesday’s post, Shannon Ragland of the Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter has graciously agreed to permit me to share some of the information he has gathered concerning jury trials in Tennessee.

This multi-part series will discuss some of the data contained in Shannon’s 359-page report.  You can buy the report yourself for $175.00.  It is well worth the money.  Click here to buy the report.  The same link will permit you to order Shannon’s monthly newsletter.

Today we look at wrongful death cases.  Total trials in Tennessee in 2009?  Just 14.  Only three verdicts were returned for the plaintiff and eleven came in for the defense.  Seven of those trials were in the medical malpractice area, and six of those were won by the defense.  The average verdict in the three successful cases was a little over $2.4 million.

 Shannon Ragland of the Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter has graciously agreed to permit me to share some of the information he has gathered concerning jury trials in Tennessee.

It is fair to say that Shannon has the most comprehensive collection of jury verdict information in the state.  Indeed, in my mind it exceeds that offered by the annual reports published by the Administrative Office of the Courts.  Why do I say this?  First, Shannon gets paid to collect data and report it accurately.  Second, the clerks report data to the AOC, and not every clerk is going to apply the same criteria when he or she completes the report.  Thus, there is increased likelihood that data will not be consistently reported and this, of course, impacts the results.

This multi-part series will discuss some of the data contained in Shannon’s 359-page report.  You can buy the report yourself for $175.00.  It is well worth the money.  Click here to buy the report.

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