Assimilation to Anchors for Damage Awards in a Mock Civil Trial¹

Some judicial reforms propose that limits on damage awards in civil trials will lower the amounts awarded while still maintaining perceptions of justice. This article describes research that examines the impact of damage award limits on mock juror judgments. Existing theory suggests that limits will serve as anchors for the mock jurors' j]udgments. Predictions that damage awards would move toward the anchor introduced by a limit were supported. This research suggests that depending on the location of the anchor on the response scale, limits may not have the intended effects. Instead, limits may actually increase damage awards, and may also reduce jurors' p]erceptions of fairness of the damage award judgments.