This paper develops an informational model of litigation in which court decisions are a function of legal representation. In this model, resource constraints determine how much parties expend on legal representation. The allocation of resources across parties influences court decisions in two...

This article looks at the effect that damage caps have on plaintiffs' recovery in medical malpractice litigation, using a unique data set of litigation in the South from 1987 to 1999. During this time, Alabama underwent both the implementation and nullification of damage-cap laws; neighboring...

This paper presents the first systematic theoretical and empirical study of high-low agreements in civil litigation. A high-low agreement is a private contract that, if signed by litigants before the conclusion of a trial, constrains any plaintiff recovery to a specified range. Whereas existing...

This article looks at the effect that damage caps have on plaintiffs' recovery in medical malpractice litigation, using a unique data set of litigation in the South, from 1987 to 1999. During this time, Alabama underwent both the implementation and nullification of damage-cap laws; neighboring...

This paper presents the first systematic theoretical and empirical study of high-low agreements in civil litigation. A high-low agreement is a private contract that, if signed by litigants before the conclusion of a trial, constrains any plaintiff recovery to a specified range. Whereas existing...

For nearly four decades, economic analysis has dominated academic discussion of tort law. Courts also have paid increasing attention to the potential deterrent effects of their tort decisions. But at the center of each economic model and projection of cost and benefit lies a widely accepted but...