Insurance companies and defense lawyers sometimes toss this word around when a jury award comes in low, acting as if the number on the verdict slip is the final word and the injured person should just take it. That is not always true. Additur is a court-approved increase in a damages award, usually proposed by a judge after deciding the jury gave too little money. It is often offered as an alternative to ordering a new trial on damages: the defendant agrees to the higher amount, or the case may be tried again.

In practice, additur matters when liability is clear but the compensation does not match the evidence. That can happen after a crash, fall, or other injury case where medical bills, lost wages, or pain evidence were stronger than the verdict suggests. A judge may decide the award was inadequate and use additur to correct it without making everyone start over. The defense, of course, may resist.

In Massachusetts, requests like this are generally tied to a motion for a new trial under Mass. R. Civ. P. 59 (1974). For injured people, additur can make a real difference when the available insurance is already thin - especially in a state with minimum auto liability limits of 20/40/5. If the verdict is too low, additur may be one route to a fairer recovery short of a full retrial.