Understanding Modes of Civil Case Disposition : Evidence from Slovenian Courts

While it is well known that the majority of civil cases filed in U.S. courts are not resolved through trial, little is known empirically about the modes of civil case disposition worldwide. To fill this void in the literature, we analyze civil case disposition in post-socialist Slovenia. We first characterize the empirical patterns of modes of civil case disposition in Slovenian local courts. We then examine court-level determinants of the incidence of in-court settlements versus trial-based judgments. Consistent with the theory that both judges and disputing parties take into account their respective private benefits and costs when choosing their preferred mode of case disposition, we find evidence that the incidence of in-court settlements versus trial-based judgments increases with the number of all case filings per judge. Thus, court resources and demand for court services influence not only total court output, as previously established in the literature, but also how cases are disposed of