Win some, lose some

Plaintiffs who went to trial in metropolitan Kansas City in 2004 won 53 percent of the time, but collected substantial amounts when they did, according to a recent survey.   There were 250 jury trials during that period, and the average plaintiff’s verdict was about $1.3 million.  That figure excludes one massive $453 million verdict involving the explosion of a Kansas City Power & Light plant.

Breach of contract and commercial actions were the second-biggest category of trials (there were 65 of them), trailing only car accidents in the total number of claims.