In the Eye of the Beholder: Tort Litigants' Evaluations of Their Experiences in the Civil Justice System

Little is known about the reactions of tort litigants to traditional and alternative litigation procedures. To explore this issue, we interviewed litigants in personal injury cases in three state courts whose cases had been resolved by trial, court-annexed arbitration, judicial settlement conferences, or bilateral settlement. The litigants viewed the trial and arbitration procedures as fairer than bilateral settlement, apparently because they believed that trials and arbitration hearings gave their case more respectful treatment. They were less satisfied with the outcome of judicial settlement conferences than with the outcome of bilateral settlements, because judicial settlement conference outcomes were more likely to fall below their expectations. In general, procedural justice judgments and outcome satisfaction were little related to objective outcome, cost, or delay; instead the evaluations appeared to be determined largely by perceptions of whether the procedure met litigants' criteria for procedural fairness and expectations on outcomes and costs. Gender, income, and race did not have much effect on evaluations.

[1]  Nancy Wyatt,et al.  The Science Question in Feminism , 1990 .

[2]  Jonathan D. Casper,et al.  Maintaining Allegiance toward Political Authorities: The Role of Prior Attitudes and the Use of Fair Procedures , 1989 .

[3]  R. Cohen.  Fabrications of justice , 1989 .

[4]  T. Tyler.  The Quality of Dispute Resolution Processes and Outcomes: Measurement Problems and Possibilities , 1989 .

[5]  The Perception of Justice: Tort Litigants' Views of Trial, Court-Annexed Arbitration, and Judicial Settlement Conferences , 1988 .

[6]  Robert E. Lane,et al.  Procedural goods in a democracy: How one is treated versus what one gets , 1988 .

[7]  W. O'barr,et al.  LAY EXPECTATIONS OF THE CIVIL JUSTICE SYSTEM , 1988 .

[8]  Jonathan D. Casper,et al.  Procedural justice in felony cases , 1988 .

[9]  T. Tyler,et al.  The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice , 1988 .

[10]  Patricia A. Ebener,et al.  Alternative Adjudication: An Evaluation of the New Jersey Automobile Arbitration Program , 1988 .

[11]  Austin D. Sarat,et al.  LAW AND SOCIAL RELATIONS: VOCABULARIES OF MOTIVE IN LAWYER/CLIENT INTERACTION , 1988 .

[12]  J. Resnik.  On the Bias: Feminist Reconsiderations of the Aspirations for Our Judges , 1988 .

[13]  Fiona Boyd.  Dispute Resolution in America: Processes in Evolution by Jonathan B Marks, Carl Johnson Jr., and Peter L Bizarton , 1987 .

[14]  H. Erlanger,et al.  Participation and Flexibility in Informal Processes: Cautions from the Divorce Context , 1987 .

[15]  N. Vidmar.  Assessing the Effects of Case Characteristics and Settlement Forums on Dispute Outcomes and Compliance , 1987 .

[16]  S. Silbey,et al.  WHAT DO PLAINTIFFS WANT? REEXAMINING THE CONCEPT OF DISPUTE* , 1987 .

[17]  Owen M. Fiss.  Justice Chicago Style , 1987 .

[18]  L. Goodstein,et al.  When Is Justice Fair? An Integrated Approach to the Outcome Versus Procedure Debate , 1986 .

[19]  D. Hensler.  What we know and don't know about court-administered arbitration , 1986 .

[20]  Craig A. McEwen,et al.  The Relative Significance of Disputing Forum and Dispute Characteristics for Outcome and Compliance , 1986 .

[21]  Austin D. Sarat,et al.  LAW AND STRATEGY IN THE DIVORCE LAWYER'S OFFICE , 1986 .

[22]  C. Sunstein.  Legal Interference with Private Preferences , 1986 .

[23]  Ronald L. Cohen,et al.  Procedural Justice and Participation , 1985 .

[24]  J. Pearson,et al.  Mediation versus the courts in child custody cases , 1985 .

[25]  P. Ebener,et al.  Court-annexed arbitration : the national picture , 1985 .

[26]  W. O'barr,et al.  Litigant Satisfaction Versus Legal Adequacy in Small Claims Court Narratives , 1985 .

[27]  Carrie J. Menkel-Meadow,et al.  Portia in a Different Voice: Speculations on a Women's Lawyering Process , 1985 .

[28]  J. W. Adler.  Simple Justice: How Litigants Fare in the Pittsburgh Court Arbitration Program , 1983 .

[29]  C. Gilligan.  In a Different Voice. Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA (Harvard University Press) 1982. , 1982 .

[30]  Tom R. Tyler,et al.  Distributional and Procedural Aspects of Satisfaction With Citizen-Police Encounters , 1980 .

[31]  P. Houlden.  IMPACT OF PROCEDURAL MODIFICATIONS ON EVALUATIONS OF PLEA BARGAINING , 1980 .

[32]  Bharat Maldé,et al.  Interpersonal relations — a theory of interdependence , 1979 .

[33]  R. Hayden,et al.  On the evaluation of procedural systems in laboratory experiments , 1979 .

[34]  Wayne A. Kerstetter,et al.  Pretrial Settlement Conference: Evaluation of a Reform in Plea Bargaining , 1979 .

[35]  P. Gulliver.  Disputes and Negotiations: A Cross-Cultural Perspective , 1979 .

[36]  L. Nader,et al.  The Disputing Process: Law in Ten Societies , 1978 .

[37]  John Thibaut,et al.  A Theory of Procedure , 1978 .

[38]  Jonathan D. Casper.  HAVING THEIR DAY IN COURT: DEFENDANT EVALUATIONS OF THE FAIRNESS OF THEIR TREATMENT , 1978 .

[39]  C. Gilligan.  In a different voice: Women's conceptions of self and of morality. , 1977 .

[40]  G. Leventhal.  What Should Be Done with Equity Theory? New Approaches to the Study of Fairness in Social Relationships. , 1976 .

[41]  Austin D. Sarat.  Alternatives in Dispute Processing: Litigation in a Small Claims Court , 1976 .

[42]  J. Mashaw.  The Supreme Court's Due Process Calculus for Administrative Adjudication in Mathews v. Eldridge: Three Factors in Search of a Theory of Value , 1976 .

[43]  Richard L. Abel.  A Comparative Theory of Dispute Institutions in Society , 1974 .

[44]  W. L. Felstiner.  Influences of Social Organization on Dispute Processing , 1974 .

[45]  Frank Michelman.  The Supreme Court and Litigation Access Fees: The Right to Protect One’s Rights — Part II , 1974 .

[46]  A. Phillips,et al.  Ideas and Procedures in African Customary Law , 1970 .

[47]  J. S. Adams,et al.  Inequity In Social Exchange , 1965 .

[48]  H. Helson,et al.  Adaptation-level theory , 1964 .

[49]  J. S. Adams,et al.  TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF INEQUITY. , 1963, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[50]  G. Homans,et al.  Social Behaviour, Its Elementary Forms , 1962 .

[51]  G. C. Homans,et al.  Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms. , 1975 .