Lower Awards for Spanish-Speaking Plaintiffs

Lost in Translation | ABA Journal - Law News Now, Jan. 2009:

After compiling 17 years of data from his own practice, Dallas lawyer Angel Reyes had a hunch that Spanish-speaking plaintiffs who required the use of a translator in the courtroom received smaller awards than those who did not.

Last fall Reyes and two professors from Texas Tech University's Rawls College of Business confirmed his suspicion: Spanish speakers who relied on a translator during court testimony were 15 percent less likely to obtain a jury verdict that exceeded their last settlement offer than were English speakers.

The article is: Bradley T. Ewing, Angel L. Reyes, III, & James C. Wetherbe, Estimating the Effect of Non-English Speaking Hispanic on Personal Injury Jury Trial Outcomes, Texas Tech University, Rawls College of Business, ISQS Working Paper (2008); it will appear in Social Science Quarterly.

Thanks: @djillpugh.