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The Jury Trial Took Place In Oakland California Plaintiff Winners In Medical Malpractice Casesall before the court, (2) the named representatives can fairly represent all of the members of the class, and (3) the class
members have a well defined common interest in the questions of law or fact to be resolved (Black's Law Dictionary). Of the 11,908 civil trials litigated in 2001, only 1 could be classified as a class action. This lawsuit, "Bell v. Farmers
Insurance Exchange," resulted from the decision of Farmers Insurance Exchange to classify their claims' representatives as administrative personnel, which exempted the insurance company from having to pay overtime. The suit was certified as a class action because it involved over 2,400 California claims adjustors.
The jury trial took place in Oakland, California, and a finding was entered for the plaintiffs. The award totaled $124.5 million of which $90 million was for uncompensated overtime, $1.2 million for double time, and $34.5 million for prejudgment interest. The case took almost 5 years from filing to verdict to litigate.Source for additional case details:
About 18% of plaintiff winners were awarded over $250,000 in total damages while an estimated 7% were awarded $1 million or more. Among particular types of cases, asbestos product liability trials had the highest median awards, with half of the 19 asbestos cases receiving at least $1.7 million in damages. These cases averaged a higher number of plaintiffs (3.2 plaintiffs per case) compared to the typical tort case (1.4 plaintiffs per case). Among the non-asbestos product liability cases, plaintiffs recovered a median award of $311,000. Plaintiff winners in medical malpractice trials
received a median award of $422,000, with 1 in 3 receiving awards of $1 million or more.
Among contract trials, employment discrimination suits had median awards of $166,000, with 14% garnering awards of $1 million or more. Jury awards versus bench awards The data reveal that final award amounts also varied by whether the case was decided by a jury or a judge.
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