DOJ v. Google: Survey Results Background The Department of Justice (DOJ) is pursuing an antitrust lawsuit against Google for “unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets and to remedy the competitive harms.” Former Attorney General Barr stated that Google’s monopoly harms “users, advertisers, and small businesses in […]
Read moreUpcoming Antitrust Research
We are drafting a 1,000 respondent national survey on antitrust issues focusing on the recent Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice cases against Facebook and Google. However, our interest goes beyond these lawsuits. Given the cataclysmic events of 2020, we want to get a better understanding of the historical moment we’re now in and be […]
Read more
In Their Own Words: 5 Reasons Why Jurors Are Unwilling to Treat a Corporation and an Individual Equally
Our survey asked participants to offer reasons about why they could not follow the court’s instruction to treat a corporation and an individual equally.
Read more
Jurors’ Experiences & Attitudes about Lawsuits and Damages in Alameda County
Experiences with Lawsuits Understanding jurors’ experiences with lawsuits and damages awards is an essential element of jury selection in civil cases. Our recent Alameda County jury selections revealed that 16.5% of the pool had made some type of claim for damages, and 8.2% said that they had been a target of a claim for damages. […]
Read more
“Collective Knowledge” of a Corporation
The Concept of Collective Knowledge The issue of whether a corporation’s conduct is “knowing” is often an important step in determining whether a corporation can be found guilty of criminal conduct. But how does a corporation “know” something? While this concept is sometimes difficult to discern for individuals, it is extremely complicated when the defendant […]
Read more
Meet the High-Tech Juror
They’re a local fixture. Almost all of our Bay Area jury selections indicate a strong presence of jurors who have training in engineering. For example, in 2010, we were working with a client on a case in the San Francisco Division of the Northern District of California. Of the eight seated jurors, six of them […]
Read more
Corporate Personhood & Public Opinion
Corporate personhood is the most widely known legal fiction and the most likely to trigger strong opinions. In jury selections that we’ve conducted, most potential jurors appear willing to treat a corporation the same as individuals.
Read moreIn Their Own Words: Jurors’ Opinions of “Collective Knowledge” of a Corporation
After asking jurors about their understanding of, and agreement with, the Collective Knowledge jury instruction, we asked them to explain what the instruction meant to them in their own words. The instruction read as follows: The knowledge obtained by corporate employees acting within the scope of their employment is imputed to the corporation. Accordingly, if […]
Read moreIn Their Own Words: 4 Reasons Why Some Jurors Are Willing to Treat a Corporation and an Individual Equally
66% of the 300 California residents and potential jurors we surveyed said they would have no problem with treating an individual and a corporation equally.
Read moreRespondeat Superior & Public Opinion
Are jurors reluctant to hold corporations responsible for the negligent and criminal acts of its employees? Judges are sometimes surprised by the biased opinions that jurors have. For example, we were working for the plaintiff in a case where an employer was being sued for the alleged negligent acts of an employee. One of the voir […]
Read more