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April 2009Locating Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements in Washingtonby Linda Kawaguchi and Patrick J. Charles Information about jury verdicts, bench trial judgments, and settlements in personal injury cases is important for a variety of reasons. (For purposes of this article, the term "verdict" will include both jury verdicts and bench trial judgments.) Award or settlement amounts and the facts surrounding these cases are helpful in evaluating how a case may fare at trial and may be used as a bargaining tool in settlement negotiations. Personal injury verdict and settlement information can be found in both print and electronic formats. Each source supplies different details about the cases; some give only the bare minimum of information, including the type of case, jurisdiction, and the award or settlement amount. Other sources may also provide citations to statutes, case name, judge's name, docket number, statement of the facts, award or settlement amount, appellate information, and experts used. Most of these resources require either subscription or membership, but most law libraries provide access to a variety of these publications. Almost all publishers accept verdict and settlement information submitted by the attorneys involved in the cases. In addition, many legal publishers hire individuals to go to local courthouses, retrieve court files, and read, summarize, and submit the cases. Other legal publishers gather information from reported appellate court opinions. Jury verdicts and bench trial judgments are generally easier to locate than settlements, because the verdict or judgment amount is part of the court file. Settlements tend to be confidential in nature. Even if the settlements are not confidential, it is still difficult in many jurisdictions to find actual dollar amounts because the court files generally don't include that information. Listed below are some of the national and Washington-specific sources for personal injury verdicts and settlements. Some also include employment cases. If it is available online, that information is also provided. Washington Jury Verdict and Settlement Resources Jury Verdicts Northwest — Northwest Personal Injury Litigation Reports Jury Verdicts Northwest is the leading publisher of verdict and settlement information for Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, and Washington. Washington cases are published in two separate monthly publications, the Northwest Personal Injury Litigation Reports and the Washington Arbitration Reports. The Northwest Personal Injury Litigation Reports contains personal injury trials and settlements from Washington and Alaska state and federal courts. The Washington Arbitration Reports contains arbitration cases from Washington. Cases reported include the type of case, docket number, facts of the case, type of injury, judge's name, expert information, and award or settlement amount. It is also available in the Westlaw database JVNWA-JV. Jury Verdicts Northwest offers a fee-based custom search service for Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska cases at www.juryverdictsnw.com. This site also gives subscription information for their print resources, including the Northwest Personal Injury Litigation Reports and the Washington Arbitration Reports. JVR's State Verdict Surveys — Washington Edition Jury Verdict Research (JVR) is a division of LRP Publications that publishes state-specific personal injury verdicts and settlements annually for approximately 27 states, including Washington. Each state verdict survey includes award trends for significant injuries and frequently claimed liabilities, million-dollar verdict activity, statistical comparisons of state and national averages, as well as detailed summaries of recent verdicts and settlements. The most recent JVR's State Verdict Surveys — Washington Edition is 2006. It is also available in the Westlaw database LRPWA-JV. National Jury Verdict and Settlement Resources JVR Personal Injury Valuation Handbook The JVR Personal Injury Valuation Handbook is an eight-volume set published by LRP Publications. It provides a statistical analysis of verdicts and settlements that is helpful in preparing more effective case strategies. Some of the titles include: • Comparing Settlements, Verdicts & Statistics in Spinal Nerve Injury Cases The Personal Injury Verdict Finder allows a researcher to call LRP's toll-free telephone number or fill out an online form and LRP will locate similar personal injury verdicts and settlements. LRP's publications can be found in a variety of formats, including newsletters, books, pamphlets, and online databases. Subscription and pricing information is available at www.juryverdictresearch.com. LRP personal injury verdicts and settlements are also available on Westlaw in the LRP-JV database. AAJ's Law Reporter The Law Reporter is a newsletter published 10 times per year by the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) and covers state and federal cases throughout the nation. The Law Reporter covers all types of cases including personal injury cases. Each case reported in the Law Reporter includes the type of case, award or settlement amount, jurisdiction, attorney information, facts of the case, and access to pleadings and other court documents. It is more of a current-awareness tool, because there is no comprehensive index of verdicts and settlements. Lawyers USA Lawyers USA (formerly Lawyers Weekly USA) is a national legal newspaper. It has a section entitled "Verdicts & Settlements" that includes state and federal personal injury and employment verdicts and settlements. Each case reported in Lawyers USA includes the facts of the case, award or settlement amount, attorney information, and the judge's name. The verdicts and settlements section is available weekly in each print issue of Lawyers USA. There is no comprehensive index; however, there is a keyword-searchable database that contains all of the verdicts and settlements reported by Lawyers USA available at www.lawyersweeklyusa.com. ALM's VerdictSearch National VerdictSearch National is published by ALM. This monthly newsletter was originally called the National Jury Verdict Reporter. It covers state and federal personal injury cases from across the country. Each case reported in the VerdictSearch National includes the following information: the award or settlement amount, case name, jurisdiction, docket number, attorney information, and a factual description of the case. There is no comprehensive index of verdicts and settlements for the newsletter; however, ALM maintains a keyword searchable database that contains thousands of state and federal personal injury cases. Subscription information can be obtained at the ALM's website at www.verdictsearch.com. The Westlaw database is ALMVS-JV. ALM also publishes the National Law Journal. The National Law Journal publishes an annual issue that includes their top 100 verdicts and top 20 defense verdicts. Stein on Personal Injury Damages 3d This is a multi-volume set published by Thomson-West that provides information on aspects of personal injury damages for both state and federal verdicts and settlements from around the country organized by type of injury. Each verdict or settlement provides the jurisdiction, court and citation information, type of injury, award or settlement amount, attorney information, and a summary of the facts. The Westlaw database is STEIN-DIG. Verdicts, Settlements & Tactics This is a monthly newsletter that includes information concerning injury trends, articles on trial strategies and tactics, as well as very detailed and comprehensive verdict and settlement information from state and federal courts from around the country. It is organized into sections dealing with specific types of injuries, further divided into five subsections: damages fixed by court, excessive, not excessive, adequate, and inadequate. Each verdict or settlement report includes jurisdiction, court and citation information, type of injury, award or settlement amount, attorney information, and a summary of the facts. It is also available in the LexisNexis database as VERDCT;VERST and in the Westlaw database as VST. Dollar Verdicts: Personal Injury Only reported cases which have generated a published opinion are included. It is organized into sections dealing with specific types of injuries, further divided into five subsections: damages fixed by court, excessive, not excessive, adequate, and inadequate. Each verdict or settlement report provides jurisdiction, court and citation information, type of injury, award amount, attorney information, and a summary of the facts. It includes cases from both state and federal courts throughout the country, and is updated annually. What's It Worth: A Guide to Personal Injury Awards and Settlements This is an annual publication organized into 28 chapters dealing with specific types of injuries, further divided into four sections: settlements, adequate verdicts, inadequate verdicts, and excessive verdicts. Each case provides jurisdiction, case name, attorney information, facts of the case, type of injury, and award or settlement amount. Cases are supplied from AAJ (formerly ATLA) and LexisNexis. It includes both state and federal cases from around the country. The LexisNexis database is 2NDARY;WORTH. Lane Medical Litigation Guide This multi-volume set includes "Specimen Awards" related to injuries to various parts of the body. Each verdict or settlement provides case name, citation, jurisdiction, type of injury, and award or settlement amount. Cases are supplied from West reporters and other sources. It is updated annually and includes both state and federal cases from around the country. Damages in Tort Actions Volume 7 of this multi-volume set includes "Illustrative Awards and Settlements." In addition to providing access to all aspects of medical malpractice law, it supplies a list of "Illustrative Awards." Verdicts and settlements are organized by type of injury and report court and docket information, facts of the case, award or settlement amount, specific type of injury, and other relevant data. Cases are supplied from AAJ (formerly ATLA) and LexisNexis. It is updated annually and includes cases from both the state and federal level. The LexisNexis database is MATBEN;DAMTOR. Medical Malpractice Volume 5 of this multi-volume set supplies a list of "Illustrative Awards." Verdicts and settlements are organized by area of medicine. Each verdict or settlement provides court and docket information, award or settlement amount, facts of the case, specific type of injury, and other relevant data. Cases are supplied from AAJ (formerly ATLA) and LexisNexis. It is updated annually and includes both state and federal cases from around the country. The LexisNexis database is MATBEN;MEDMAL. Premises Liability Volume 4 of this multi-volume set supplies a list of "Illustrative Awards." Verdicts and settlements are organized by type of injury. Each verdict or settlement provides court and docket information, award or settlement amount, facts of the case, specific type of injury, and other relevant data. Cases are supplied from AAJ (formerly ATLA) and LexisNexis. It is updated annually and includes both state and federal cases from around the country. The LexisNexis database is 2NDARY;PRLLAP. Product Liability Advisory This monthly newsletter reports on recent case developments in the area of product liability law, as well as surveys verdicts and settlements. Each verdict or settlement includes a narrative of the case, award or settlement amount, court information, experts used, attorney information, and the docket number. It is part of the multi-volume treatise American Law of Products Liability 3d, and can also be subscribed to separately. It includes both state and federal cases from around the country. The Westlaw database is PLADVISORY. LexisNexis Jury Verdict and Settlement Resources Jury Verdicts and Settlements — Combined (VERDCT;ALLVER) This database includes jury verdicts and settlements from state and federal cases around the country. This is a combined database which includes cases from more than 49 different databases on LexisNexis. National Jury Verdict Review & Analysis (VERDCT;NTLREV) The National Jury Verdict Review & Analysis, published by Jury Verdict Review Publications, contains selected state and federal cases from around the country. Westlaw Jury Verdict and Settlement Resources Jury Verdicts: 9th Circuit (JV-9th) This database includes both state and federal cases from states in the 9th Circuit. It is a compilation database that includes cases from LRP Publications, Jury Verdicts Northwest, Westlaw, and Trials Digest California Jury Verdicts and Judgments. National Evaluator Multibase (NATEVAL-ALL) This is another combined database that contains a variety of primary and secondary sources for use in the evaluation of civil lawsuits, including personal injury and products liability lawsuits. It includes cases from more than six different jury verdict and settlement databases on Westlaw. Jury Verdicts — National (JV-NAT) This comprehensive database includes many different sources, including LRP's jury verdicts and settlements. This database includes both state and federal cases from around the country. Other Electronic Jury Verdict and Settlement Resources MoreLaw.com — www.morelaw.com This is a free service and is maintained by Kent Morlan, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, trial attorney. The database is searchable by keyword and updated daily. Each verdict, settlement, or judgment lists jurisdiction, a summary of the case, case name, docket number or citation, type of case, attorney names, expert names, injuries, and award or settlement amount. This includes both state and federal cases from around the country. National Association of State Jury Verdict Publishers — www.juryverdicts.com The National Association of State Jury Verdict Publishers is an organization of publishers of jury verdict summaries from throughout the United States. This site does not contain actual verdict or case information; rather, it is a trade association for a number of verdict publishers throughout the United States. Linda Kawaguchi is the director of the Chastek Library and assistant professor of law at Gonzaga University School of Law. Prior to becoming the director of the Chastek Library, she was the collection development librarian and head of acquisitions at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law Library. She previously worked at the Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan Law Library. Patrick J. Charles is the Chastek Library associate director and assistant professor of law at Gonzaga University School of Law. Prior to joining Gonzaga, he was a reference librarian and legal research instructor at Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska. He previously worked as the circulation/reference librarian at Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. He is a member of the Oregon State Bar. |
