With inordinate amounts of money spent in the United States on lawyers and lawsuits and multi-billion-dollar settlements growing each year, the very timely book Judge and Jury asks, "Is the tort system benefiting the public?"
In Judge and Jury, the fear of litigation is shown to reduce innovations, drive physicians and manufacturers out of lawsuit-prone specialties, and increase manufacturing and consumer costs. In the courts, data from thousands of cases all over the country demonstrate that tort system awards are driven by political factors such as judicial elections, jury compositions, and the location of courts themselves. This book assembles the unprecedented findings and insights by authors Eric Helland Alexander Tabarrok, who have pioneered economic and legal research into the injustice and enormous costs created by the politicization of the tort law.
Seeking to reverse the extremely harmful trends in tort law, Judge and Jury assembles innovative alternatives for reforming the tort system and charts a course toward re-establishing fair civil justice for all in the United States.
“In their pioneering book, Judge and Jury, Helland and Tabarrok are relentless in their pursuit of hard data to explain the behavior of the American jury. The authors are to be commended for the way in which they confirm some deep-seated perceptions of runaway juries while debunking other claims that do not survive their rigorous empirical scrutiny.”
“In Judge and Jury, Helland and Tabarrok take the available data and present a fascinating portrait of civil justice in America. Armed with these facts, cogently presented, reformers can focus on doing what's needed to restore the rule of law.”
“In contrast, Judge and Jury offers solid economic analysis and empirical study of some very important issues. The book should be of great interest to anyone interested in the U.S. tort system.”
“Anyone who wants to know what’s happened to American tort law in the last thirty years needs to read Judge and Jury. Helland and Tabarrok have written the definitive account of the evolution of tort law in the United States, using data rather than anecdotes. This superb book sets out a persuasive, interest-group-based account of the changes in U.S. tort law in the last half century. If data makes your heart beat faster, as it does mine, this is the book to read, and every legislator should do so.”
