American Rule Research Articles

Optimal Design Settlement Devices for Cases of Disputed Liability: Fee-Shifting Rules and Pleadings Mechanisms

We study the effect of alternative fee shifting rules on the probability of settlement when the defendant's liability is under dispute. Using a mechanism design approach we demonstrate that the probability of settlement is maximized by a particular Pleadings mechanism: Both parties are given the choice to opt into the mechanism; if they choose to do so, the defendant is asked to plead liable or not. Based on the defendant's pleading the plaintiff is offered a settlement amount which if accepted would be binding to both parties. If the plaintiff refuses the offer, then the case goes to trial and the allocation of litigation costs between the parties is set according to the outcome of the trial and the defendant's pleading of liability. When the background rule for allocation of litigation costs is given by the American rule, we show that the probability of settlement is maximized by requiring the plaintiff to bear both litigants' costs when the defendant has admitted liability irrespective of the outcome of the trial, and by applying the Pro-Plaintiff rule in the event that the defendent has denied liability. Extensions that allow for court inaccuracy, different background rules, variable shares of costs shifted, and detterence are considered.

The EU–US Dispute concerning the New American Rules of Origin for Textile Products

The EU–US Dispute concerning the New American Rules of Origin for Textile Products

Ethical issues in human embryonic stem cell research

Ethical issues in human embryonic stem cell research

Free float and liquidity screening of the JSE

Current index construction techniques screen potential index constituents in order to exclude those with a low liquidity and/or free float, the actual percentage of shares available for trade, to provide an improved performance benchmark.Four techniques have been applied to the JSE to determine an optimum benchmark. Three indices were constructed using the Financial Times Securities Exchange, Dow Jones STOXX and Morgan Stanley Capital International screening rules. The fourth was constructed by developing new rules. The study found that investors experienced free float and liquidity constraints and that a JSE free float index is required. It also showed that the American and British rules did not provide an improved index and that new, more appropriate rules were needed to create an optimum free float index.

Pricing behavior, effort choices, and settlement offers under alternative legal cost allocation systems: Evidence from an auditing game

Abstract This paper reports the results of two experiments, each consisting of six sessions, designed to investigate seller behavior in an auditing game. Across the two experiments, we vary the legal cost allocation rule. In experiment one, the seller must pay his or her legal costs regardless of the outcome of litigation (the American rule). In experiment two, the seller must pay his or her legal costs (and the buyer's legal costs), but only if the seller is liable for damages suffered (the British rule). Within each experiment, we investigate whether the seller's behavior (effort choices, fee offers, and settlement offers) is consistent with game theory or behavioral theory. Across the two experiments, we investigate whether differences arise in behavior, which may be attributable to the legal cost allocation system. Our findings, in general, provide little support for the game theory, directional predictions. Effort choices in experiment one are consistent with such predictions, but otherwise little support is found. By comparison, fee behavior across the two experiments is consistent with behavioral theory. The seller's direct cost appears to be focal in determining fees. Across the two experiments, we find that fee offers include a higher premium, above the competitive price, under the American rule than the British rule. In addition, we find that settlement offers are more likely to be optimal under the British rule than the American rule.

Flooded with foreign coins. Spanish and American administrators dealing with currency. Problems in the Philippines, 1890-1905

that the colonial state, like a business firm, had to be built up with the means by which it could produce itself. This entailed reforming the administrative system, balancing tax revenues with expenditures and streamlining the gov ernment apparatus. With the ongoing socioeconomic changes in society and the growth of commerce, government functions and thus expenditures increased. The expanding colonial state apparatus could no longer be staffed solely with foreigners; qualified local personnel had to be recruited to carry out increasingly complex technical and administrative tasks. The need for education and the mobilization of personnel in the service of the state creat ed a stratum of people who were no longer rooted in their regions, but who acquired a national consciousness, focused on the national state.1 This proposition holds for the Philippines as well: the final two decades of Spanish rule were a period of administrative reforms, and the first two decades of American rule completed that transformation. The Spanish administrators centralized the government, increased the efficiency of the revenue and tax collection system, improved public instruction, public

How the Income Tax Undermines Civil Rights Law

Federal statutes entitle prevailing plaintiff in civil rights litigation to recover attorney's fees from defendant. The recovery of attorney's fees under these so-called constitutes a deliberate departure from usual American rule that each litigant must bear her own legal costs. A civil rights plaintiff acts not just for herself alone but also as a attorney general, vindicating national policy. The fee-shifting provisions enable plaintiff who cannot pay a private attorney, and whose potential recovery is not sufficient for a contingency fee arrangement, to perform this private attorney general function. This objective has been undermined by recent tax decisions concerning taxation of employment discrimination plaintiffs. Under these decisions, a civil rights plaintiff must report her entire recovery as income. However, attorney's fees the cost of producing income are not fully deductible under regular tax and are not deductible at all under alternative minimum tax. As a result, plaintiff's is overstated and overtaxed. The tax law should permit a civil rights plaintiff either to deduct fully or to exclude recovery of attorney's fees. A full deduction or exclusion would provide a more accurate measure of plaintiff's and also preserve purpose of fee-shifting provisions.

The British and American Rules: an Experimental Examination of Pre‐trial Bargaining in the Shadowof the Law

A commonly held view is that the frequency and value of pre‐trial settlements in civil disputes are greatly influenced by the cost allocation regime that is in place if the case goes to trial. There is a large and growing theoretical literature on this subject but almost no empirical evidence. This is due simply to the scarcity of relevant data owing to the confidentiality generally associated with such matters. However, the area is an ideal one to analyse experimentally. In this paper we consider the effect of the British and American rules for cost allocation using such an experimental methodology. We find that the two rules produce no difference in the frequency of pre‐trial settlements but that the British rule produces higher settlements (pro‐pursuer) if the probability of the pursuer winning is large.

Sociabilités et liens personnels aux Philippines sous la colonisation américaine

The archives of Manuel Quezon (regarded as the first president of the Philippines) shed a new light on the social relations in the upper class. During the American rule, a wide network of associations acting as pressure groups in the archipelago gave an impetus to the young democracy. M. Quezon pragmatically used clubs and societies to reinforce his position as a political leader, the only one capable of governing the country after independence. This is especially visible in his Masonic connections. Beyond this, the letters of introduction (for introducing an individual) and recommendation (for procuring a position) also create a social bond. These letters are open to various interpretations. They may correspond to social codes, linked to good manners, for example. In the public sphere they show how a political leader could win the fidelity of his clientele, by acting as a "go between". Through these exchanges, we can appreciate the degree of Americanization of Philippine society.

Land Reform, Income Redistribution, and Agricultural Production in Korea

Jeon, Yoong-Deok; Kim, Young-Yong.January, 2000.Land reform, income redistribution, and agricultural production in Korea,Articles,[Chicago, U.S.]University of Chicago,18

Philippine Theatre in English

in 1901. The United States, through the American Insular Government, introduced into its new territory American ideals and the American way of life through a nationwide educational system, then later through the print and broadcast media and via film. Over the course of four decades, and beyond the end of American rule in 1946, American forms of art, plus their English and European counterparts, were introduced through the language and media and became accepted, assimilated, and used as models. The American influence on Philippine theatre is found in what was then called bodabil, in the Western plays staged in the original English or in English translation, and in the original plays written by Filipinos in English and in Philippine languages and produced by contemporary theatre groups, using such styles as theatre of the absurd, epic theatre, expressionism, and various forms of realism. The American tradition entered the Philippine stage principally through the educational system established in 1901, and since then has continued, developing with fresh inputs, merging with or transforming traditional theatre, siring translations and adaptations, sparking the emergence of new playwrights, new trends, new theatres, and on the whole contributing ideas and energy to Philippine theatre. The colonizers who arrived to establish the American

Exile as Protest: Artemio Ricarte

This article provides an analysis of the factors behind the various exile experiences of General Artemio Ricarte, who in his lifetime fought against the Spanish and American colonizers. It was during the American rule that he chose a life of exile rather than to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. His place in Philippine history, however, has been clouded by his association with the Japanese Occupation forces during World War II. Ricarte's role and place in the fight for Philippine independence, the influence of his exile on resistance movements, his motivations for supporting the Japanese, the impact of his return to the Philippines, and his realization of the destructive impact of Japanese occupation on the Filipino people are detailed in the article.

Philippines-Marianas Relations in History: Some Notes on Filipino Exiles in Guam

This article situates the nature of the exile of Filipinos to the Marianas in the shared history of the Philippines and the Marianas. The links between the two can be traced to as far back as the voyages and travels of the Austronesians and Nusantao from the Philippines to the Marianas. The nature of exile was different before and after the arrival of the colonizers. The Marianas became a place of exile for Filipinos who opposed or criticized the Spanish and American colonial governments. A discussion is devoted to Apolinario Mabini, considered to be the most prominent exile at the time of the American rule in the Philippines.

Surgery in the Philippines.

The Philippines is an archipelago of about 7000 islands, with an area about the size of England, situated just above the equator in Southeast Asia. It has a population of 70 million. The Philippines has had extensive commercial and social contact with Asian neighbors, specifically the Chinese, even before the 377 years of Spanish colonization from 1521 to 1898 and the 48 years of American rule from 1898 to 1946. More than 80% of Filipinos are Catholics; the rest are Muslims and Protestants of various denominations, including those who belong to Filipino church groups. Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, amoebiasis, typhoid fever, and malaria are still prevalent, and arteriosclerosis, cancer, and stroke are common and on the rise.

American rules, OK: Difference and otherness in `Independence Day'

According to its advertisement copy, `Independence Day' delivers the ultimate encounter when powerful aliens launch an invasion against the human race. Does this `ultimate encounter' simply retrace the old fashioned Hollywood theme of good versus evil? Or is there a more sinister meaning woven into the text of the film? This paper deconstructs the narrative of the film to reveal the underlying monolithic, Americanised modernity and argues that `Independence Day' provides an allegorical legitimation for Pax Americana.

Cognitive Differences between Japanese and Americans in their Perceptions of Difficult Social Situations

This study examined the effects of such situational factors as contexts, behavioral rules, and social roles on human behavior in intercultural settings. These situational factors were extracted through an intensive review of the literature on recent schema research. This study was conducted in two phases. Study I was carried out to determine the situations that contained different behavioral rules held by Japanese and Americans. In Study 2, two research questions were raised: "Do different behavioral rules held by Japanese and Americans lead to a unidimensional or multidimensional pattern of intercultural relations?" and "If behavioral rules prove to be multidimensional, what difficulties are Japanese and Americans likely to experience when they communicate with one another?" The results in Study 1 indicated that 21 situations that were investigated did contain different Japanese and American behavioral rules, thus supporting the validity of the instrument (scenarios containing different Japanese and American behaviors based on these behavioral rules) used in Study 2. The results in Study 2 showed (a) multidimensionality of behavioral rules and (b) types and degrees of difficulties that Japanese and Americans are likely to experience.

Does The English Rule Discourage Low‐Probability‐Of‐Prevailing Plaintiffs?

One of the principal results in the economic theory of litigation is that the English rule of fee allocation (in which the loser pays the winner's litigation costs) is better at discouraging suits by low‐probability‐of‐prevailing plaintiffs than the American rule (in which each side bears its own costs). This result has been demonstrated under the assumption that all suits that are filed go to trial. Using a standard asymmetric‐information model of litigation, we show that when the settlement process is taken into account the English rule results in more low‐probability‐of‐prevailing plaintiffs going to trial than the American rule. In this sense, the English rule encourages low‐probability plaintiffs more than the American rule.

Does the English Rule Discourage Low‐Probability‐Of‐Prevailing Plaintiffs?

One of the principal results in the economic theory of litigation is that the English rule of fee allocation (in which the loser pays the winner's litigation costs) is better at discouraging suits by low‐probability‐of‐prevailing plaintiffs than the American rule (in which each side bears its own costs). This result has been demonstrated under the assumption that all suits that are filed go to trial. Using a standard asymmetric‐information model of litigation, we show that when the settlement process is taken into account the English rule results in more low‐probability‐of‐prevailing plaintiffs going to trial than the American rule. In this sense, the English rule encourages low‐probability plaintiffs more than the American rule.

An Analysis of Fee Shifting Based on the Margin of Victory: On Frivolous Suits, Meritorious Suits, and the Role of Rule 11

When plaintiffs cannot predict the outcome of litigation with certainty, neither the American rule (each litigant bears its own litigation expenses) nor the British rule (the losing litigant pays the attorneys' fees of the winning litigant) would induce optimal decisions to bring suit. Plaintiffs may bring frivolous suits when litigation costs are small relative to the amount at stake; plaintiffs may not bring meritorious suits when litigation costs are large relative to this amount. More general fee-shifting rules are based not only on the identity of the winning party but also on how strong the court perceives the case to be at the end of the trial (the "margin of victory"). We analyze when such a rule can induce plaintiffs to sue if and only if they believe their cases are sufficiently strong. We explore the implications of our analysis for the use of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11.

Litigation and Settlement under the English and American Rules: Theory and Evidence

In contrast to the American rule, whereby each party bears its own costs, the English rule requires losers at trial to pay the winner's legal fees, up to a reasonable limit. We develop six hypotheses regarding how these two cost-allocation rules might affect settlements and litigated outcomes through changes in (i) the selection of cases reaching the settle-versus-litigate stage and (ii) behavior thereafter. Using data from Florida, which applied the English rule to medical malpractice claims during the period 1980-85, we examine the rules' effects on the probability of plaintiffs' winning at trial, jury awards, and out-of-court settlements. The English rule increased plaintiff success rates at trial, average jury awards, and out-of-court settlements. Our interpretation of these findings emphasizes that the overall quality of the claims reaching the settle-versus-litigate stage must improve to generate the combination of effects observed.