I stumbled upon a study entitled  “Settlementality” by Jessica Bregant, Jennifer K. Robbennolt & Verity Winship which surveyed over 1,000 U. S. adults on their basic knowledge of settlements and what. If any, role the courts and contract law play in settlement. (Id. at 1.)

Although their results were mixed and nuanced, what they found was that overall, the participants preferred  settlement over having a judge decide and more importantly, thought admitting fault and apology to be very important. (Id.)

In May  2022, the researchers  surveyed 95.5 percent of their study online and 4.5%  by phone. The participants lived in all 50 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. and ranged in age from 18 years to 92 years. They were 54 % female and 69% white, non-Hispanic.(Id. at 17.)  They ranged from non-working  to having some involvement in the legal profession. (Id. at 18.)

Each participant was asked to what extent he/she agreed with the following 10 questions:

  1. The Parties themselves should be able to decide how to resolve their dispute.
  2. Parties should be able to agree to things in a settlement that other people would see as unfair.
  3. Settlements should be written and approved by judges.
  4. A settlement between two parties is nobody’s business but their own.
  5. The details of a settlement should be made public.
  6. When a case settles, the person who was accused of causing harm should apologize to the harmed person.
  7. When a case settles, the person who was accused of causing harm should admit to doing something wrong.
  8. Settlements are fair because they are a compromise between the parties.
  9. Settling parties are more interested in money than justice.
  10. When disputes settle, wrongdoers escape justice. (Id. at 22.)

Notably, almost 66% in the study agreed that the parties should be able to decide their dispute on their own and over 50% agreed that the parties could base such settlements on terms that others might view as unfair.  Of note, almost 50% believed that when a case settled, the person causing the harm should apologize while almost 45% believed the wrongdoer should at least admit to wrongdoing. ( Id at 22.)

The researchers looked at these responses in terms of the gender of the participant and found that “male-identifying participants were more likely to agree with 1 (“Parties themselves should be able to decide how to resolve dispute”) than were female-identifying participants.” (Id. at 32.)  But “Female participants were more likely to agree both with item 6 (“Person accused of causing harm should apologize”)…and item 7 (“Person accused of harm should admit to wrongdoing.”)… than were male participants.” (Id.)

These researchers also found that the older participants were more likely to agree with the notion that people could agree to terms that others might view as unfair and also more likely to agree with the notion that settlements are nobody’s business. They also thought that those who settled escaped justice. (Id. at 33.)

Those participants who identified as Hispanic believed that settlements should be approved by the court and be made public.  Notably, those  black participants were more likely to agree that those causing harm should apologize than the White participants. (Id. at 33-34.)

The study has a lot more interesting findings: I highlight only some of them here.  My takeaway, (and perhaps I am biased being a mediator) is that  the majority of folks believe in settling their disputes rather than going to trial.

…. Just something to think about.

 

 

 

 

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