Interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics UJ (INCET) invites for its next research seminar entitled "The Robin Hood effect: The effect of income on perceived fairness of mutual compensation in tort damages" by Maciej Próchnicki. The meeting takes place on the 7th of March 2024 r. 5:30, Grodzkiej 52, room 25, Kraków and via Teams

Abstract

(Joint work with Štěpán Bahník & Marek Vranka). Fairness is an essential virtue of judicial decision-making. In both criminal and civil law, a numerical verdict (such as the amount of the fine or the amount of money awarded as damages) must be tailored to the wrongfulness of the act committed and the level of injury in order to satisfy the fairness criterion. In criminal law, the punishment should fit the crime, but such a notion of proportionality may be problematic for a number of reasons.

Similar considerations apply to tort law, where the amount of damages is notoriously difficult to calculate, especially when it comes to the non-economic or punitive damages. The amount of compensation must be adequate to the level of the injury and wrongfulness of the tortious act. However, from a psychological point of view, it seems that retributive attitudes may also play an important role in tort awards.

In tort cases two parties may have mutual claims against each other. In such cases, the wrongness of the tortious act, which should serve as the main basis for determining damages, may be overwhelmed by other factors, such as the income of the party. As shown by our three experimental studies, this can lead to the Robin Hood effect: in the context of reciprocal monetary compensation in torts, the effective net flow of money goes from the richer to the poorer party, regardless of the degree of wrongfulness of their act.

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