This paper assesses the widely held belief that damages for pain and suffering are random or arbitrary. We empirically analyze the differential impact of a plaintiff's personal characteristics, pain-specific circumstances and a lawsuit's procedural features on such payments. Relying on a dataset...

This article assesses predictors of payouts and non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases decided by the Spanish Supreme Court from 2006 until 2010. Medical malpractice cases can be judged in administrative or civil courts, and this distinction heavily relies on the type of hospital...

We analyze the pricing of pain and suffering and, in particular, whether the corresponding compensations are affected by a court’s approach to value such damages. For this purpose, we use data on pain and suffering verdicts in Austria, where courts are generally free to choose between a per...

Settlements are often considered to be welfare-enhancing because they save time and litigation costs. In the presence of court error, however, this conclusion may be wrong. Court decisions create positive externalities for future litigants which will not occur if a dispute is settled out of...

German Abstract: Dieser Beitrag zeigt, wie Gerichte und Anwälte mittels "Event Study"-Gutachten im Kontext des Kapitalmarkts die Kausalität zwischen einer Pflichtverletzung und einer Schädigung wesentlich zuverlässiger feststellen können, als dies in der bisherigen Rechtspraxis der Fall...

It seems that private law dislikes futilities, if the maxim “de minimis non curat praetor” is anything to go by: neither the courts nor the law should concern themselves with trifles. Indeed, the academic venture of drafting a Common Frame of Reference (CFR) upholds this principle by stating...

Article III of the Constitution grants federal district judges, appellate court judges, and Supreme Court Justices important constitutional protections (lifetime tenure and no salary diminution) to guarantee their independence. However, the Supreme Court has allowed Congress to create, under...

This survey of recent developments includes reports on the new Rotterdam Rules intended to govern claims of damage or loss for goods carried by sea under bills of lading and new Institute Cargo Clauses for use in policies of marine insurance. Reports are also offered on the cases of Transfield...

The present paper analyzes the interaction between the economic review of the probition of abuses of a dominant position (Article 82 EC) on the one hand and the efforts to enhance private enforcement of competition law through private damage claims on the other hand. The paper argues that...

With the enactment of the 2005 Collective Settlement of Mass Damage Act (WCAM 2005) the Dutch legal system and indeed Dutch society has taken a significant step towards a more efficient resolution of mass damage claims. The WCAM 2005 seems especially promising for attaining relatively swift...