Settlementality

Is settlement of civil litigation good or bad for the legal system? Should we have more or less of it? Should settlement have a private or public purpose? Legal scholars and lawyers have considered these questions for decades, but very little is known about the views of ordinary people. This Article reports results from a nationally representative survey of over 1000 U.S. adults about what respondents thought settlement should look like. Respondents indicated, for example, the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with statements like these: “A settlement between two parties is nobody's business but their own.” “Settling parties are more interested in money than justice.” Our findings convey nuanced lay intuitions about civil settlement, including mixed views about secrecy and settlements, and a tendency to want settling defendants to admit fault and apologize. We also discover that a striking number of lay observers prefer private resolution through contract to oversight by judges. Indeed, a considerable majority thought that at least 75% of disputes would be resolved by settlement in an ideal world, with 100% being the most common choice. The view that more cases should settle was both striking and complicated, highlighting the tension between private resolution of disputes and the public function of litigation and courts.