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Managerial Opportunism during Corporate Litigation

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  • BRUCE HASLEM

Abstract

Using a large sample of litigation events involving publicly listed defendants, we document a surprising fact. The resolution of litigation through a court's decision dominates settlement of litigation from the shareholders' point of view, even when the firm loses. We develop a model using agency costs within the firm to explain why the market views settlement as a negative outcome on average and find empirical evidence supporting the implications of the model. Specifically, firms with weak corporate governance settle litigation more quickly, and the market reacts more negatively to settlements involving firms with higher agency costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce Haslem, 2005. "Managerial Opportunism during Corporate Litigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 2013-2041, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:60:y:2005:i:4:p:2013-2041
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.2005.00786.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Bird, Robert C. & Borochin, Paul A. & Knopf, John D., 2015. "The role of the chief legal officer in corporate governance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-22.
    2. Adam B. Badawi & Daniel L. Chen, 2017. "The Shareholder Wealth Effects of Delaware Litigation," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 19(2), pages 287-326.
    3. Omer Unsal & Blake Rayfield, 2020. "Corporate governance and employee treatment: evidence from takeover defenses," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 44(2), pages 361-391, April.
    4. Liu, Chelsea, 2021. "CEO gender and employee relations: Evidence from labor lawsuits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    5. Mazur, Mieszko & Salganik-Shoshan, Galla & Walker, Thomas & Wang, Jun, 2018. "Proximity and litigation: Evidence from the geographic location of institutional investors," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 60-74.
    6. Ligon, James A. & Malm, James, 2018. "Litigation risk, financial distress, and the use of subsidiaries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 255-272.
    7. Aharony, Joseph & Liu, Chelsea & Yawson, Alfred, 2015. "Corporate litigation and executive turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 268-292.
    8. Filippo Mezzanotti, 2021. "Roadblock to Innovation: The Role of Patent Litigation in Corporate R&D," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7362-7390, December.
    9. Köster, Hannes & Pelster, Matthias, 2017. "Financial penalties and bank performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 57-73.
    10. Irena Hutton & Danling Jiang & Alok Kumar, 2015. "Political Values, Culture, and Corporate Litigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2905-2925, December.
    11. Liu, Ruiming & Si, Haiping & Miao, Miao, 2022. "One false step can make a great difference: Does corporate litigation cause the exit of the controlling shareholder?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Utpal Bhattacharya & Neal Galpin & Bruce Haslem, 2007. "The Home Court Advantage in International Corporate Litigation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 625-660.
    13. Bliss, Barbara A. & Partnoy, Frank & Furchtgott, Michael, 2018. "Information bundling and securities litigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 61-84.
    14. Josh Lerner & Amit Seru, 2017. "The Use and Misuse of Patent Data: Issues for Corporate Finance and Beyond," NBER Working Papers 24053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Wei, Zuobao & Xie, Feixue & Posthuma, Richard A., 2011. "Does it pay to pollute? Shareholder wealth consequences of corporate environmental lawsuits," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 212-218, September.
    16. Liu, Chelsea, 2020. "Judge political affiliation and impacts of corporate environmental litigation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    17. Bessen, James & Neuhäusler, Peter & Turner, John L. & Williams, Jonathan, 2018. "Trends in private patent costs and rents for publicly-traded United States firms," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 53-69.
    18. Rashid Zaman & Stephen Bahadar & Haroon Mahmood, 2021. "Corporate irresponsibility and stock price crash risk," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 21(3), pages 786-820, September.
    19. Michael Hadani, 2021. "The Reputational Costs of Corporate Litigation: Long-Term Media Reputation Damages to Firms’ Involvement in Litigation," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(4), pages 234-246, November.
    20. Liu, Chelsea & Aharony, Joseph & Richardson, Grant & Yawson, Alfred, 2016. "Corporate litigation and changes in CEO reputation: Guidance from U.S. Federal Court lawsuits," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 15-34.

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