Mississippi Litigation Review & Commentary : Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Phillip W. Thomas Law Firm : MS Litigation Review & Commentary

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The February edition of the Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter has been released. It was particularly bleak for plaintiffs in personal injury cases. Two medical malpractice trials;two defense verdicts in medical malpractice trials. One in Hinds County and the other in Jackson County.

The plaintiff “won” a Lauderdale County car wreck case. The verdict was for $9,964. The plaintiff had $10,182 in medical bills related to the wreck and needs an additional surgery that will cost $26,000.

This next one is unusual. In Hancock County, a passenger in a buggy pulled by a horse was thrown from the buggy when a car hit it. The pair in the buggy were on their way home from a big night at the American Legion bar in "the" Kiln. Plaintiff's medical bills were $12,000. The jury rendered a defense verdict for the driver of the car and a $500 verdict against the buggy driver, who was unrepresented at trial. The jury probably would have awarded more to the horse, but he was apparently not injured in the mishap.

The Reporter also provided detailed information on the following cases previously covered in this blog:

• The $654,000 Warren County slip and fall verdict (minus 50% for plaintiff's fault);
• the $771,000 verdict in the federal court Desoto County jailor firing case, involving the secret “what happens in jail stays in jail” policy;
• the $333,319 Rankin County bench verdict in a wrongful death case;
• the $50,000 federal court racial discrimination verdict in the case filed by the former police chief against the Town of Como.

There was also:

• a September 2011 Adams County breach of contract verdict of nearly $2 million in a dispute between a casino and an ATM company; and
• a $335,459 federal court verdict in Gulfport in a products liability case between two big companies where only property damage was involved.

Ten years ago, conventional wisdom was that plaintiffs were always better off in state court. When you look at the results in the last few years, I'm not sure that is the case anymore outside Hinds County and a few other state court jurisdictions.

In federal court, a plaintiff will usually resolve her case faster, have a judiciary that is more active in pushing settlement, and the verdict is more likely to be affirmed on appeal than in state court. And in conservative jurisdictions, federal court juries may be awarding more damages than state court juries, especially in personal injury cases.