California Study Examines Litigant Preferences for Resolving Civil Lawsuits: Mediation
By Claims Journal, February 14, 2014
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University of California, Davis Professor Donna Shestowsky has authored a new study, “The Psychology of Procedural Preference: How Litigants Evaluate Legal Procedures Ex Ante,” on the legal procedures preferred by people involved in civil lawsuits at the start of their cases.
The study, recently published in Iowa Law Review, finds that people involved in civil lawsuits prefer mediation to nonbinding arbitration and like judge trials more than jury trials.
“The clear overall preference that litigants expressed for mediation over nonbinding arbitration has important implications for courts that want to draw litigants into their voluntary ADR programs, especially if they offer only one ADR procedure,” Shestowsky said. “This finding helps to resolve a long-standing debate over which of the two procedures litigants prefer.”
