Large numbers of Americans doubt the fairness of civil courts and a majority — sometimes substantial majorities— admit that personal biases could affect their decisions as jurors, according to results of a recent survey.
The national poll on the civil justice system was conducted last month by The DRI Center for Law and Public Policy.
According to a press release issues by DRI, an international membership organization of lawyers involved in the defense of civil litigation, the telephone survey was based upon a national, random, scientific sample of adults.
In terms of confidence in the civil courts, only nine percent of respondents indicated that they were very confident that the results in civil courts are “just and fair” while 16 percent expressed no confidence that the results were fair.
Eighty-three percent say that the side with the most money for lawyers usually wins.
This holds true for all demographic groups: Democrats, Republicans, Independents, liberals, and conservatives.
On the other hand, the 58 percent who expressed confidence in court decisions, places the civil courts far ahead of Congress, the presidency, and even the church in other recent confidence polls.
“The research, of course, begs further inquiry. There is sometimes a gap between perception and reality. But that a large section of the public even perceives the courts to be unfair is troubling,” said John R. Kouris, DRI executive director.
Perhaps more troubling, he said, was the fact that majorities of respondents freely admitted that, in certain instances, their personal biases could affect their decisions as jurors.
For instance, 57-59 percent of those surveyed said they would be inclined as jurors to favor individuals in cases against an insurance, oil, or financial company. Fifty-two percent said that if they had a bad consumer experience with a litigant, it could influence their decision as a juror.
“This data indicates that we have some public education work to do,” said Marc Williams, chair of the center. “No matter how much affinity one might have with one side or another, a basic premise of justice is that cases will be tried before an unbiased judge and jury who then make their decisions based upon the law and the facts presented.”
Another subject area of the poll, class action law suits, produced other interesting information, according to Kouris.
Four out of 10 Americans have been invited to participate in a class action suit. Fifteen percent, the equivalent of 36 million of them, actually participated in one and most do not appear to be doing it for the money.
Of the 70 percent receiving a financial award, 73 percent termed it insignificant. Their motivation might lie in the fact that 65 percent thought class action suits made corporations more responsible.
At the same time, the poll found that 64 percent prefer jury trials to bench trials even though 48 percent feel juries make decisions based upon personal opinion rather than facts and the law.
Alternatively, 69 percent feel that judges base their decisions on facts and the law rather than personal opinion.
Meanwhile, 75 percent of Americans see jury service as a civic duty rather than a burden and, of those who had served, 81 percent said the experience was a positive one.
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