TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bebchuk,Lucian Arye
TI  - Negative Expected Value Suits
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 6474
PY  - 1998
Y2  - March 1998
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6474
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6474.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Lucian A. Bebchuk
Harvard Law School
1545 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-3138
Fax: 617/812-0554
E-Mail: bebchuk@law.harvard.edu
AB  - When the cost of a suit exceeds the expected judgment, will a potential plaintiff be able to extract any amount in settlement from the defendant?  If so, what is the source of the plaintiff's ability to extract a settlement?  This essay discusses existing theories as to why (and when) plaintiffs with negative-expected-value (NEV) suits can extract a settlement amount from the defendant.  Among the theories discussed are ones that focus on informational issues and ones that focus on the way in which the parties' litigation costs are expected to be distributed over time.
ER  -