How to change a radio button value?

checked property doesn't change the value of radio button. note that checked property is one the DOM INPUT Element properties and not one of the jQuery object properties(by selecting an element using jQuery, a jQuery object is created). If you want to change this property you should first convert the jQuery object into a DOM Element object.

$('#search-damages')[0].checked = true;

or use the jQuery object's prop() method:

$('#search-damages').prop('checked', true)

If you want to change the value of an input you can use the jQuery val() method:

$('#search-damages').val('new value');