MICHAEL D. MARCUS’S MEDIATION MESSAGE NO. 79 SETTLING RATHER THAN GOING TO TRIAL MAKES STATISTICAL SENSE, PART II In Mediation Message No. 70 (July 2011), I discussed a 2008 empirical study of 2,054 California trials between 2002 and 2005 which concluded there is a high incidence of decision-making error by both plaintiffs and defendants in rejecting settlement proposals and going to trial or arbitration. 61 % of the time plaintiffs received less or equal at…
MICHAEL MARCUS’S MEDIATION MESSAGE NO. 71 THE LOCATION OF THE TRIAL, SECTION 998 OFFERS AND DAMAGES Last month, I discussed a study in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies which found that there is a high incidence of decision-making error by both plaintiffs and defendants in rejecting settlement proposals and going to trial or arbitration. Other interesting findings in that study are the impact of the type of trial and statutory C.C.P. sec. 998 offers…
MICHAEL MARCUS’S MEDIATION MESSAGE NO. 70 SETTLING RATHER THAN GOING TO TRIAL MAKES STATISTICAL SENSE A study (“Let’s Not Make a Deal: An Empirical Study of Decision Making in Unsuccessful Settlement Negotiations”) in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, vol. 5, issue 3, pages 551-591 (2008), which analyzed 2,054 California trials between November 2002 and December 2005, involving 5,116 attorneys, concluded that there is a high incidence of decision-making error by both plaintiffs and defendants…