BY BOBBY HARRISON
Daily Journal Jackson Bureau
JACKSON - In the midst of all the rhetoric about the positives and negatives of Mississippi's much discussed civil justice system, one fact does stand out.
In the last six to seven years, the number of large jury verdicts has dramatically increased in Mississippi.
"We have counted 26 verdicts of more than $5 million since 1995,'' said Lex Taylor, chairman of Mississippians for Economic Progress and vice president of Taylor Machine Works of Louisville.
Before 1995 there was no verdict in Mississippi state court larger than $9 million, according to MEP. Now there has been a litany, including a $500 million breach of contract lawsuit between two funeral home companies that resulted in the Canadian-based Loewen Group filing for bankruptcy; $120 million verdict in two wrongful death cases against Ford Motor Co.; $250 million verdict against General Motors Co. for two wrongful death cases; $150 million verdict against American Home Products, makers of the diet drug fen-phen; and $100 million against Johnson & Johnson, maker of the heartburn medication Propulsid.
Some settled
Some of the large verdicts were settled for lesser amounts before appeal. Some are still on appeal and in some cases the defendant accepted the verdict and moved on - or in some cases moved into bankruptcy.
Trial attorneys and others admit that aberrations in the civil justice system occur. The appeals courts are there as a safety net to correct those aberrations. And they say each case must be considered on its merit.
For instance, trial attorneys point to a $9 million verdict in a medical malpractice case in what is perceived as defendant-friendly Ran-kin County for the family of a mother of three who was left severely disabled after oxygen was cut off to her brain. And in some of the largest verdicts, trial attorneys point out, it is businesses suing businesses, such as in the Loewen case.
Shane Langston of Jackson, former president of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, said when viewed on a national level, verdicts in Mississippi are not out of the ordinary.
For 2001, Mississippi had five verdicts among the top 100, according to the National Law Journal.
Langston said part of the reason that Mississippi has gained so much national attention is "I don't think corporate America likes to see low income, minority juries return verdicts against them.''
But since 1995, Mississippi juries, including low income, minority juries in such locations at Holmes and Jefferson counties, have been doing exactly that.
Following a lead
Sen. Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, a trial attorney, said in recent years Mississippi juries, especially rural ones, might have in a manner joined the mainstream and started following what is occurring in other parts of the country. As the country - and indeed world - becomes smaller thanks to television and other communications outlets, those people in rural Mississippi are beginning to see what is occurring in other parts of the country, including jury verdicts, and are making similar awards.
But those in the business community would argue that Mississippi attorneys and indeed attorneys from throughout the nation have discovered in the last six to seven years that generally less educated juries in rural Mississippi have a bias against big business that can be exploited.
"There has got to be a problem when we are losing doctors and gaining lawyers,'' said Jerry McBride, president of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association.
