Jury awards to individuals against corporations have been skyrocketing over the last decade or so. In the insurance industry it's referred to as "social inflati

Jury awards to individuals against corporations have been skyrocketing over the last decade or so. In the insurance industry it's referred to as "social inflation" and is a pretty hot topic right now. People in the industry were shocked by a record $411 million award last October [0], only for that record to be shattered by a $1 billion award not even a year later [1]. My pet theory is that it's mostly driven by attitudes that corporations have too much power coupled with increased inaction by the government entities that could be addressing all of that corporate power. An increase in litigation financing is probably a big factor too. There's lots of firmer legal analysis out there by people who, unlike me, are actually qualified to perform that analysis (e.g. [2]). Naturally it's all somewhat speculative, but there are some interesting solid-ish statistics, for example: > A national survey conducted by Sound Jury Consulting in 2019 found three-quarters of respondents eligible for jury service stated they would decide a case based on their own personal beliefs of right or wrong if those beliefs conflicted with the law as instructed by the judge. The number is higher for millennials. [0] https://cdllife.com/2020/single-truck-company-slapped-with-nuclear-411-million-verdict-following-45-vehicle-pileup/ https://cdllife.com/2020/single-truck-company-slapped-with-n... [1] https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking-news/the-nation/inside-a-nuclear-verdict-florida-jury-renders-1-billion-ruling https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking-news/the-nation/inside-a... [2] https://www.hinshawlaw.com/assets/htmldocuments/Articles/The%20Legal%20Trends%20Behind%20Social%20Inflation%20In%20Insurance.pdf https://www.hinshawlaw.com/assets/htmldocuments/Articles/The...