Word: understanding
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...humble car owner does not really understand hybrids (engineer jargon for automobiles that use more than one source of power-like a diesel engine combined, with a battery-powered engine, for example). What he really wants is a decent replacement for his air-conditioned, 8-m.p.g. '71 Chevy Impala. He was pretty disappointed when the so-called Moodymobile raised hopes and made headlines by getting from Florida to Washington, D.C., at 84 m.p.g. only to flunk its EPA emissions test...
...decide whether IBM had monopolized various markets claimed in Memorex's $900 million antitrust suit, jurors needed a detailed understanding of things like "reverse engineering," "cross elasticity of supply" and "subordinated debentures." The trial lasted 96 days. The jury heard 87 witnesses and examined some 3,000 exhibits. After deliberating for 19 more days, it could not reach a unanimous verdict. Federal Judge Samuel Conti declared a mistrial. He then ruled in favor of IBM, though the jury had favored Memorex by 9 to 2. Suspecting that the jurors were baffled by the whole case, Judge Conti began asking...
...Court to "Suits at common law." Thus they come under the jury-trial guarantee of the Seventh Amendment. (State courts are not bound by the Seventh, but most states have similar guarantees.) Such cases add to the burdens on the already overloaded courts. More important, if the jury cannot understand the issues, the right to a jury may conflict with something more basic, the right to a fair trial...
...Supreme Court decision suggesting that the Seventh Amendment right to a jury may be limited by "the practical abilities and limitations" of jurors. But earlier this month U.S. Supreme court Chief Justice Warren Burger joined a growing number of bench and bar leaders who question whether modern juries can understand, much less fairly decide, complex, protracted cases...
...there is another side to the matter. If jurors cannot grasp the complexities of a big case, it may be the fault of the lawyers. "You don't need a Ph.D. to understand these cases," says Vinson. A sociologist from the University of Southern California, Vinson has studied firsthand the ability of jurors to cope in several huge cases. His conclusion: jurors try hard, but lawyers do a poor job of explaining. Typically, lawyers spend years piling up documents until jurors get lost in the minutiae. Eventually, says Vinson, they stop listening to the gobbledygook. Instead, they watch...