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WINTER 2021/2022 USLAW MAGAZINE U S L A W
No More Finger-pointing How Today’s Juries Are Emphasizing Personal Responsibility in Their Verdicts
Clint Townson, Ph.D
“You reap what you sow.” That’s how one New York juror summed up his feelings about pandemic-era litigation, unable to hide his exhaustion with both sides of an insurance dispute in which both parties seemed to be shirking responsibility for their own behavior. The policyholder argued that the exclusionary language was abstruse; the insurer argued that it was not obligated to ensure the individual’s understanding of her own policy. The juror, meanwhile, was joined in his frustration by several others who were searching for either party to own its share of the blame. As the global coronavirus pandemic unfolded, we conducted extensive research into how COVID-19 impacted the litigation community, ushered change across practice areas, and shaped the attitudes of jurors. Through a series of twelve in-depth focus groups across three metropolitan venues (Los Angeles, Houston and New York City) and numerous subsequent mock trials, we
IMS Consultig & Expert Services
have thoroughly explored attitudes and themes relevant to the concept of ‘personal responsibility’ in a litigation context. Across case types ranging from personal injury to securities fraud, we found that jurors wanted parties to take responsibility for their own actions. In the past, we have seen jurors’ empathy override their sense that plaintiffs may bear responsibility for their own harm. After experiencing a pandemic, it seems that jurors are placing an increasing burden on both sides to acknowledge their mistakes. LOCUS OF CONTROL The underlying psychological mechanism that drives jurors’ allocation of responsibility is called “locus of control.” Based on a theory developed by Dr. Julian Rotter, it proposes that individuals perceive the world around them based upon a continuum of personal control. That is, people with an internal locus of control believe that they have
set their own courses, and they feel a strong sense of personal responsibility for their successes and failures. People with an external locus of control believe that outside forces beyond their personal sphere (such as the government, corporations and social factors) have a disproportionate effect on their lives. While this psychological trait frequently predicts juror verdict preferences in mock trial research, COVID-19 appears to have strengthened its application. In our recent research, mock jurors believed that an extreme, unforeseen circumstance like the pandemic does not reduce or eliminate a party’s personal obligations. A cruise liner, for instance, is not excused for poor hygienic standards even though a virus like COVID-19 had not been encountered in recent times. For many respondents, periods of heightened stress and confusion make it all the more imperative that parties be willing to assume personal responsibility
