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MA/PhD Theses Abstracts of Current Students & Alumni |
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Price-Reavis, Charles A. December 1991 - AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF MINORITIES AND PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA
Abstract: Justice according to the law is supposed to be a civil right right guaranteed to all citizens in the United States of America, as mandated by the United States Constitution and the subsequent Bill of Rights. However, this has not been the case for minority groups in the United States of America, historically and currently. Minorities consistently suffer higher sentences (particularly capital sentences) more law enforcement brutality, and lengthier incarcerations relative to non-minorities. Although there is an abundance of literature addressing minority issues in criminal justice there is a scarcity of literature dealing with minority issues in civil justice in general and personal injury litigation specifically. Personal injury litigation is one of the most lucrative areas of legal practice and one that has major economic effects on parties to litigation. This thesis is the product of exploratory research into the domain of personal injury litigation in the state circuit civil courts of Florida primarily in the ninth and thirteenth circuits. The majority of this research focuses on the effects and treatment of litigants in a minority versus non-minority context. Since minorities are disproportionately represented among the underclass class and ethnicity are difficult to separate. A multimethod approach was implemented utilizing semi-structured personal interviews with personal injury attorneys courtroom observations (ninth circuit) and a state-wide survey of personal injury attorneys. The data analysis based on the survey and personal interviews indicate that there is discrimination/bias in personal injury litigation but that it tends more to be class-based discrimination and not overtly racial/ethnic per se. However class-based discrimination becomes racial/ethnic in nature since a disproportionate percentage of the lower socioeconomic levels of society are composed of minorities. Thus the imperative driving this research is to explore the realm of personal injury litigation in the state of Florida with the intention of creating a springboard for further research into relevant minority issues. There is also the potential that these results can be generalized to personal injury litigation issues beyond Florida.
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