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Practice Tip: Using Jury Research to Help Overcome the Challenges of Common-Sense Causation

By Dennis P. Stolle, Ph.D. and Christina Studebaker, Ph.D.
November 01, 2005

The issue of causation is at the core of most product liability trials. The challenge for litigants, particularly defendants, is that jurors often find common-sense notions of causation more persuasive than those based on complex or scientific evidence, even though the latter may be more accurate or correct. Common-sense causation arguments are simple arguments that are consistent with lay jurors' everyday experiences. Indeed, common-sense notions of causation are correct in most of our day-to-day activities. Accordingly, jurors come to trust their common-sense notions of causation and find it disconcerting when those notions are challenged by trial counsel. The result is that jurors who are presented with competing theories of causation are often likely to prefer the common-sense theory, even if it is not correct or plausible from the perspective of science or engineering. This is especially true of jurors who are not motivated to consider and integrate a large volume of complex evidence carefully and thoughtfully.

In product liability litigation, trial consultants can help identify when and where common-sense notions of causation are likely to pose obstacles to their clients' arguments and can assist the trial team with crafting and testing arguments to overcome the challenges of common-sense causation. Well-researched psychological principles suggest a number of particular characteristics of an event that are likely to bolster common-sense notions of causation. Consider how many of your cases involve one or more of the following characteristics:

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