0:05
to do in California litigation is fully

0:10
inform a jury about the consequences of

0:13
their verdict in terms of how the damage

0:15
is applied in California we have joint

0:18
and several liability for economic

0:20
damages but only several liability

0:23
apportioned by fault for non-economic

0:26
damages that means if a jury finds that

0:29
a defendant is one percent liable it

0:32
only is liable for one percent of the

0:34
non-economic damages however a one

0:37
percent finding of liability equates to

0:40
a 100 percent finding of liability for

0:44
economic damages that’s something that

0:46
the jury instructions don’t cover in

0:49
California we always submit a special

0:52
instruction so that the jury knows what

0:55
they’re doing and the consequences of it

0:57
if we don’t do that plaintiff’s council

0:59
often argue that they want to only be

1:02
fair in this case and have the jury

1:05
award a small percentage against an

1:07
individual defendant like one percent or

1:09
five percent but the jury doesn’t know

1:11
that that equates to one hundred percent

1:13
of the economic damages

1:21
when a jury is fully informed of their

1:24
decision-making ability and impact they

1:27
take it more seriously otherwise it’s a

1:30
matter of splitting the baby they don’t

1:33
want to disappoint the plaintiff they

1:34
don’t want to fully punish the defendant

1:36
so they think they’re doing something in

1:38
between

1:39
but they’re really not