Tort models predict a symmetry in the behavior of tortfeasors and victims when respectively faced by strict liability and no liability. Tort scholars have widely relied upon this prediction. Yet, the prediction is based on a theoretical economic model that has not yet been empirically tested....

In negligence regimes, tort plaintiffs traditionally bear the burden of proving the negligence of their defendants. Several European legal systems adopted rules that have reversed this traditional evidentiary rule in certain categories of torts, creating a rebuttable presumption of negligence...

Technological advances have changed our ability to acquire and save information, with far-reaching implications in legal discovery and evidence. In this paper, we analyze the interrelated effect of legal presumptions and discovery rules in incentivizing the voluntary adoption of private evidence...

This paper is about the incentive effects of legal presumptions. We analyze three interrelated effects of legal presumptions in a tort setting: (1) incentives to invest in evidence technology; (2) incentives to invest in care-type precautions; and (3) incentives to mitigate excessive activity...

Economic models of tort law evaluate the efficiency of liability rules in terms of care and activity levels. A liability regime is optimal when it creates incentives to maximize the value of risky activities at the net of accident and precaution costs. The allocation of primary and residual...

In this paper, we analyze the impact of past accident experiences on individual care choices. By relying on standard economic theory, we posit three hypotheses: (1) individual choice of efficient care; (2) no accident-history effect; (3) no role-reversal effects. We test these three hypotheses...

This is the second of two companion papers that discuss accidents caused by robots. In the first paper (Guerra et al., 2021), we presented the novel problems posed by robot accidents, and assessed the related legal approaches and institutional opportunities. In this paper, we build on the...

In robot torts, robots carry out activities that are partially controlled by a human operator. Several legal and economic scholars across the world have argued for the need to rethink legal remedies as we apply them to robot torts. Yet to date, there exists no general formulation of liability in...

This paper analyzes deterrence, settlement, and litigation spending under two alternative procedural regimes, i.e., the adversarial versus inquisitorial systems. We present a general litigation model with three sequential stages---care, settlement, and litigation stages---and we test the...

Much of the conventional wisdom of evidence law rests on the premise that the amount of evidence available in any given case is exogenously determined. With the advent of evidence technology (e.g., dashcams, black-box technology, digital data storage, surveillance cameras), the availability of...