UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 7, Page 10
October 14, 1993
Criminal justice professor studying jury decisions 

     Valerie Hans, professor of criminal justice, is spending the 1993-94
academic year in the Legal Studies Department of the University of
Pennsylviania's Wharton School, as the recipient of a National Science
Foundation (NSF) Visiting Professorships for Women (VPW) grant.
     Now in its 11th year, the VPW program is designed to encourage the
representation of women in science and to enhance professional recognition
of women in science at major universities. The women visiting professors
spend 70 percent of their time on research and 30 percent as mentors,
either teaching or organizing a workshop or seminar.
     Hans' ongoing research is a study of juries and their perception of
business and corporate responsibility in civil cases. She and undergraduate
and graduate student volunteers interviewed 269 jurors after the fact, to
find out how and why they had arrived at the decisions they had in civil
cases. She will use her sabbatical year and grant to write a book based on
these findings. At the Wharton School, she also will be a guest lecturer on
corporate responsibility and ethics.
     Hans and former graduate student William S. Lofquist wrote an article
on their preliminary findings, entitled "Jurors' Judgments of Business
Liability in Tort Cases: Implications for the Litigation Explosion Debate,"
which appeared last year in the Law & Society Review.
     "There are many different kinds of civil cases, ranging from workers
affected by exposure to asbestos to the 'green bean scene' where a shopper
slips on produce on the floor; from automobile accidents involving a
company car to medical malpractice suits. One case currently making
headlines is DuPont and growers who used Benelate," Hans said.
     In general, the perception is that jurors tend to side with the
individual suing a company or corporation, but it turns out that that is
not the case, Hans said.
     Jurors scrutinize plaintiffs with care to determine what their motives
are in seeking damages, she said, whether it's because a corporation or
business acted irresponsibly, whether a lawyer who stands to profit from
winning encouraged the suit or whether the plaintiff is seeking
compensation because the corporation has "big pockets" and can afford to
pay.
     "Jurors take their responsibilities seriously and apply the
'reasonable person test,' in other words, has someone acted reasonably in a
given situation, to the plaintiffs suing corporations," Hans said.
     In general, the jurors who were surveyed indicated that there were too
many frivolous lawsuits, that there should be fewer suits in general and
that more efforts should be made to solve differences out of court.
     In the cases that were researched, the awards were generally modest,
Hans said, except in cases where the plaintiffs were paralyzed and required
lifetime care. Such considerations as to whether a plaintiff correctly used
available safety equipment or the severity of injuries entered into the
judgments.
     For the most part, jurors wanted to talk about their experience and
how decisions are made. In some instances, although the jurors were
personally sympathetic with the plaintiff, the overriding consideration in
reaching a decision was what the law involved.
     The one area in which jurors felt they needed more guidance was in
awarding damages. There is not much information given about appropriate
dollar figures, Hans pointed out.
     There is controversy at this time about the jury system, Hans said, as
an increasing number of complicated cases are being tried. Other research
showed, however, that judges who reviewed civil tort cases, in general,
agreed with the majority of decisions handed down by juries.
     A graduate of the University of California at San Diego, with a
master's and doctoratal degrees in social psychology from the University of
Toronto, Hans was a visiting scholar at Stanford Law School in 1986-1987
where she audited several classes, giving her a background in legal issues.
     Hans is co-author with Neil Vidmar of Judging the Jury, published in
1986, which examined juries in criminal cases and in some civil cases.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure