Out of 100 cases, selected randomly from jury verdict research across the State of Florida (Fig. 1), we calculated a sample average case value of $1,315,131.97 for a given case in the sample involving a plaintiff’s loss of sight. Nonetheless, this value was slightly influenced by outlier cases, and we saw a range of case values between $0 and $38 million dollars.
During statistical analysis of the sample, we discovered five values that deviated from the trend of data in this sample: $7 million dollars, $7.5 million dollars, $9.2 million dollars, $10.8 million dollars, and $38 million dollars. While there was less of a clear distinction between these values and others from the sample than we usually see, these values were different from other case values by at least $1 million dollars. If we remove these outliers, as well as defense verdicts which have a value of $0, we calculated a sample average case value of $967,429.46. This value is more typical than the originally-calculated average case value in the sample; nevertheless, because this sample had a larger-than-average range of values, it’s hard to determine an exact average that represents most of the sample in the best way.
Because of the large value spread, it’s important to analyze different measures of central tendency to get a well-rounded look at the possible case values of the sample that could be used to project an estimated value of a case. For example, when removing outliers and defense verdicts, we see a median (middle) case value of $428,000 and a mode (most-often) case value of $100,000. Clearly, these values show a huge discrepancy between the calculated average, the middle value of a sample, and the most-often value seen in the data. When analyzing samples with such a large range, viewing these measures can help us get a more accurate view of what one can expect from a case; but, it also shows the volatility and unpredictability of case values across the state in blindness cases.
Figure 1 shows a pie graph where we broke down the geographic regions in the sample which we closer analyzed. The Orlando region was made of cases in Orange County and Osceola County, and the Rest-of-State region was made of cases excluding the Orlando region. The cases were spread around the State similarly, with some concentration in the counties in southern Florida.
Of the seven cases in the Orlando region, we saw a sample average case value of $364,000.71 including defense verdicts as this region did not have any outliers, and an average case value of $509,601 excluding defense verdicts. The rest-of-state region showed an average case value including defense verdicts and outliers of $1,386,722.50 and $1,008,307 excluding these values.
The average case value for a certain type of injury reveals little about the value of any case. For more complete information about how to place a value on any case, please visit our “What is my case worth?” blogs.
To find out more about the outliers in this sample, please click here.
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