Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-27T05:44:08.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Underclaiming and Overclaiming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Abstract

Arguments that we have too much litigation (overclaiming) or too little (underclaiming) cannot be valid without estimating how many of the undecided claims that are brought (actual claims) or not brought (potential claims) have or lack legal merit. We identify the basic conceptual structure of such underclaiming and overclaiming arguments, which entails inferences about the distribution of actual or potential claims by their probability of success on the merits within a claims-processing institution. We then survey the available methods for estimating claim merit.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Abel, Richard L. 1987. The Real Tort Crisis—Too Few Claims. Ohio State Law Journal 48(2): 443467.Google Scholar
Amoros, Emmanuelle, Martin, Jean‐Louis, Chiron, Mireille, and Laumon, Bernard. 2007. Road Crash Casualties: Characteristics of Police Injury Severity Misclassification. Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care 62(2): 482490.Google Scholar
Antecol, Heather, and Cobb‐Clark, Deborah. 2004. The Changing Nature of Employment‐Related Sexual Harassment: Evidence from the US Federal Government, 1978–1994. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 57(3): 443461.Google Scholar
Artís, Manuel, Ayuso, Mercedes, and Guillén, Montserrat. 2002. Detection of Automobile Insurance Fraud with Discrete Choice Models and Misclassified Claims. Journal of Risk and Insurance 69(3): 325340.Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, Orley, Ashmore, David, and Deschênes, Olivier. 2005. Do Unemployment Insurance Recipients Actively Seek Work? Evidence from Randomized Trials in Four U.S. States. Journal of Econometrics 125(1–2): 5375.Google Scholar
Ayres, Ian, and Siegelman, Peter. 1995. Race and Gender Discrimination in Bargaining for a New Car. American Economic Review 85(3): 304321.Google Scholar
Ayres, Ian, Vars, Fredrick E., and Zakariya, Nassar. 2005. To Insure Prejudice: Racial Disparities in Taxicab Tipping. Yale Law Journal 114(7): 16131676.Google Scholar
Baker, Tom. 2005. Reconsidering the Harvard Medical Practice Study About the Validity of Medical Malpractice Claims. Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 33(3): 501514.Google Scholar
Beck, Allen J., and Harrison, Paige M. 2010. Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2008–09. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Benítez‐Silva, Hugo, Buchinsky, Moshe, Chan, Hiu M., Cheidvasser, Sofia, and Rust, John. 2004. How Large Is the Bias in Self‐Reported Disability? Journal of Applied Econometrics 19(6): 649670.Google Scholar
Berg, Marc, and Haterink, Paul. 2004. Embodying the Patient: Records and Bodies in Early 20th‐Century US Medical Practice. Body and Society 10(2–3): 1341.Google Scholar
Bertrand, Marianne, and Mullainathan, Sendhil. 2004. Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination. American Economic Review 94(4): 9911013.Google Scholar
Blackstone, Amy, Uggen, Christopher, and McLaughlin, Heather. 2009. Legal Consciousness and Responses to Sexual Harassment. Law & Society Review 43(3): 631668.Google Scholar
Brake, Deborah L., and Grossman, Joanna L. 2008. The Failure of Title VII as a Rights‐Claiming System. North Carolina Law Review 86(4): 859935.Google Scholar
Brennan, Troyen A., Leape, Lucian L., Laird, Nan M., Hebert, Liesi, Localio, A. R., Lawthers, Ann G., Newhouse, Joseph P., Weiler, Paul C., and Hiatt, Howard H. 1991. Incidence of Adverse Events and Negligence in Hospitalized Patients. New England Journal of Medicine 324(6): 370376.Google Scholar
Brennan, Troyen A., Sox, Colin M., and Burstin, Helen R. 1996. Relation Between Negligent Adverse Events and the Outcomes of Medical‐Malpractice Litigation. New England Journal of Medicine 335(26): 19631967.Google Scholar
Brickman, Lester. 2011. Lawyer Barons: What Their Contingency Fees Really Cost America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brockett, Patrick L., Xia, Xiaohua, and Derrig, Richard A. 1998. Using Kohonen's Self‐Organizing Feature Map to Uncover Automobile Bodily Injury Claims Fraud. Journal of Risk and Insurance 65(2): 245274.Google Scholar
Carlsson, Magnus. 2010. Experimental Evidence of Discrimination in the Hiring of First‐ and Second‐Generation Immigrants. LABOUR 24(3): 263278.Google Scholar
Caron, Louis, and Dionne, Georges. 1999. Insurance Fraud Estimation: More Evidence from Quebec Automobile Insurance Industry. In Automobile Insurance: Road Safety, New Drivers, Risks, Insurance Fraud and Regulation, eds. Dionne, Georges and Laberge‐Nadeau, Claire, 175182. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Cheney, Frederick W., Posner, Karen, Caplan, Robert A., and Ward, Richard J. 1989. Standard of Care and Anesthesia Liability. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 261(11): 15991603.Google Scholar
Colvin, Alexander J. 2011. An Empirical Study of Employment Arbitration: Case Outcomes and Processes. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 8(1): 123.Google Scholar
Craig, Barbara L. 1989–1990. Hospital Records and Record‐Keeping, c. 1850–c. 1950, Part 1: The Development of Records in Hospitals. Archivaria 29:5787.Google Scholar
Craig, Barbara L. 1990. Hospital Records and Record‐Keeping, c. 1850–c. 1950, Part II: The Development of Record‐Keeping in Hospitals. Archivaria 30:2138.Google Scholar
Craig, Peter. 1991. Costs and Benefits: A Review of Research on Take‐Up of Income‐Related Benefits. Journal of Social Policy 20(4): 537565.Google Scholar
Cranberg, Lee D., Glick, Thomas H., and Sato, Luke. 2007. Do the Claims Hold Up? A Study of Medical Negligence Claims against Neurologists. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 4(1): 155162.Google Scholar
Currie, Ab. 2006. A National Survey of the Civil Justice Problems of Low‐ and Moderate‐Income Canadians: Incidence and Patterns. International Journal of the Legal Profession 13(3): 217242.Google Scholar
Currie, Janet. 2006. The Take‐Up of Social Benefits. In Public Policy and the Income Distribution, eds. Auerbach, Alan J., Card, David, and Quigley, John M., 80148. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Dornstein, Ken. 1998. Accidentally, on Purpose: The Making of a Personal Injury Underworld in America. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Duclos, Jean‐Yves. 1995. Modelling the Take‐Up of State Support. Journal of Public Economics 58(3): 391415.Google Scholar
Dwyer, Debra, Hu, Jianting, Vaughan, Denton R., and Wixon, Bernard. 2003. Counting the Disabled: Using Survey Self‐Reports to Estimate Medical Eligibility for Social Security's Disability Programs. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement 28(3): 109142.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Theodore, and Farber, Henry. 1997. The Litigious Plaintiff Hypothesis: Case Selection and Resolution. Rand Journal of Economics 28:S92S112.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Theodore, and Lanvers, Charlotte. 2009. What Is the Settlement Rate and Why Should We Care? Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 6(1): 111146.Google Scholar
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 1995. Priority Charge Handling Procedures. In Fair Employment Practices Manual, 405:7311405:7322. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.Google Scholar
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 1996. National Enforcement Plan. In Fair Employment Practices Manual, 405:7351405:7358. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.Google Scholar
Ettner, Susan L. 1997. Medicaid Participation Among the Eligible Elderly. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 16(2): 237255.Google Scholar
Felstiner, William L., Abel, Richard L., and Sarat, Austin. 1980. The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming. … Law & Society Review 15(3/4): 631654.Google Scholar
Gandhi, Tejal K., Kachalia, Allen, Thomas, Eric J., Puopolo, Ann L., Yoon, Catherine, Brennan, Troyen A., and Studdert, David M. 2006. Missed and Delayed Diagnoses in the Ambulatory Setting: A Study of Closed Malpractice Claims. Annals of Internal Medicine 145(7): 488496.Google Scholar
Genn, Hazel. 1999. Paths to Justice: What Do People Do and Think About Going to Law. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
Goodman‐Delahunty, Jane, Granhag, Pär A., Hartwig, Maria, and Loftus, Elizabeth F. 2010. Insightful or Wishful: Lawyers’ Ability to Predict Case Outcomes. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 16(2): 133157.Google Scholar
Harris, Donald, Maclean, Mavis, Glenn, Hazel, Lloyd‐Bostock, Sally, Fenn, Paul, Corfield, Peter, and Brittan, Yvonne. 1984. Compensation and Support for Illness and Injury. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Harvard Medical Practice Study. 1990. Patients, Doctors, and Lawyers: Medical Injury, Malpractice Litigation, and Patient Compensation in New York: The Report of the Harvard Medical Practice Study to the State of New York. New York: Harvard Medical Practice Study.Google Scholar
Heckman, James J., and Siegelman, Peter 1993. The Urban Institute Audit Studies: Their Methods and Findings. In Clear and Convincing Evidence: Measurement of Discrimination in America, eds. Fix, Michael and Struyk, Raymond. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Herskovits, Melville J. 1950. The Hypothetical Situation: A Technique of Field Research. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 6(1): 3240.Google Scholar
Jasso, Guillermina. 2006. Factorial Survey Methods for Studying Beliefs and Judgments. Sociological Methods & Research 34(3): 334423.Google Scholar
Kerr, Scott A. 1982. Predicting Welfare Benefit Claiming Using Expectancy Theory. Journal of Economic Psychology 2(4):287297.Google Scholar
Kessler, Daniel, Meites, Thomas, and Miller, Geoffrey. 1996. Explaining Deviations from the Fifty‐Percent Rule: A Multimodal Approach to the Selection of Cases for Litigation. Journal of Legal Studies 25(1): 233259.Google Scholar
Kim, Pauline T. 1997. Bargaining with Imperfect Information: A Study of Worker Perceptions of Legal Protection in an At‐Will World. Cornell Law Review 83(1): 105155.Google Scholar
Kim, Pauline T. 1999. Norms, Learning, and Law: Exploring the Influences on Workers’ Legal Knowledge. University of Illinois Law Review 1999(2): 447515.Google Scholar
Kritzer, Herbert M. 2011. The Antecedents of Disputes: Complaints and Claiming. Oñati Socio‐Legal Series 1(6): 131.Google Scholar
Legal Services Corporation. 2009. Documenting the Justice Gap: The Currrent Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low‐Income Americans. Washington, DC: Legal Services Corporation.Google Scholar
Localio, A. R., Lawthers, Ann G., Brennan, Troyen A., Laird, Nan M., Hebert, Liesi E., Peterson, Lynn M., Newhouse, Joseph P., Weiler, Paul C., and Hiatt, Howard H. 1991. Relation Between Malpractice Claims and Adverse Events Due to Negligence. New England Journal of Medicine 325(4): 245251.Google Scholar
Lynn, Michael, Sturman, Michael, Ganley, Christie, Adams, Elizabeth, Douglas, Matthew, and McNeil, Jessica. 2008. Consumer Racial Discrimination in Tipping: A Replication and Extension. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 38(4): 10451060.Google Scholar
Miller, Richard E., and Sarat, Austin. 1980. Grievances, Claims, and Disputes: Assessing the Adversary Culture. Law & Society Review 15(3): 525566.Google Scholar
Moffitt, Robert. 1983. An Economic Model of Welfare Stigma. American Economic Review 73(5): 10231035.Google Scholar
Moss, Phillip, and Tilly, Chris 2006. Learning About Discrimination by Talking to Employers. In Handbook on the Economics of Discrimination, eds. Rodgers, William M., 6196. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Murayama, Masayuki. 2007. Experiences of Problems and Disputing Behavior in Japan. Meiji Law Journal 14:159.Google Scholar
Myers, Caitlin K., Bellows, Marcus, Fakhoury, Hiba, Hale, Douglas, Hall, Alexander, and Ofman, Kaitlin. 2008. Ladies First? A Field Study of Discrimination in Coffee Shops. Applied Economics 42(14): 19.Google Scholar
Newman, Jon O. 1996. Pro Se Prisoner Litigation: Looking for Needles in Haystacks. Brooklyn Law Review 62(2): 519527.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Laura B., Nelson, Robert L., and Lancaster, Ryon. 2010. Individual Justice or Collective Legal Mobilization?: Employment Discrimination in the Post Civil Rights United States. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 7(2): 175201.Google Scholar
Ondrich, Jan, Ross, Stephen L., and Yinger, John. 2000. How Common Is Housing Discrimination? Improving on Traditional Measures. Journal of Urban Economics 47(3): 470500.Google Scholar
Orbach, Barack Y. 2006. Unwelcome Benefits: Why Welfare Beneficiaries Reject Government Aid. Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice 24(1): 107155.Google Scholar
Pager, Devah, Bonikowski, Bart, and Western, Bruce. 2009. Discrimination in a Low‐Wage Labor Market. American Sociological Review 74(5): 779799.Google Scholar
Phelan, John J. 1974. Economic Report: Regulation of the Television Repair Industry in Louisiana and California: A Case Study: Staff Report to the Federal Trade Commission. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printng Office.Google Scholar
Phillips, R. L. Jr., Bartholomew, L. A., Dovey, S. M., Fryer, G. E. Jr., Miyoshi, T. J., and Green, L. A. 2004. Learning from Malpractice Claims About Negligent, Adverse Events in Primary Care in the United States. Quality and Safety in Health Care 13(2): 121126.Google Scholar
Priest, George L. 1987. The Current Insurance Crisis and Modern Tort Law. Yale Law Journal 96(7): 15211590.Google Scholar
Priest, George L., and Klein, Benjamin. 1984. The Selection of Disputes for Litigation. Journal of Legal Studies 13(1): 155.Google Scholar
Raich, P. A., and Rich, J. 2002. Field Experiments of Discrimination in the Marketplace. Economic Journal 112(483): F480F515.Google Scholar
Remler, Dahlia K., and Glied, Sherry A. 2003. What Other Programs Can Teach Us: Increasing Participation in Health Insurance Programs. American Journal of Public Health 93(1): 6774.Google Scholar
Roehling, Mark V. 2002. The Good Cause Norm in Employment Relations: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 14(2–3): 91104.Google Scholar
Ross, H. L. 1980. Settled Out of Court: The Social Process of Insurance Claims Adjustment, 2nd ed. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine Transaction.Google Scholar
Saks, Michael J. 1992. Do We Really Know Anything About the Behavior of the Tort Litigation System—And Why Not? University of Pennsylvania Law Review 140(4): 11471289.Google Scholar
Sandefur, Rebecca L. 2008. Access to Civil Justice and Race, Class, and Gender Inequality. Annual Review of Sociology 34(1): 339358.Google Scholar
Schmedemann, Deborah A., and Parks, Judi M. 1994. Contract Formation and Employee Handbooks: Legal, Psychological, and Empirical Analyses. Wake Forest Law Review 29(3): 647718.Google Scholar
Schneider, Henry S. Forthcoming. Agency Problems and Reputation in Expert Services: Evidence from Auto Repair. Journal of Industrial Economics.Google Scholar
Sciortino, Stanley, Vassar, Mary, Radetsky, Michael, and Knudson, M. M. 2005. San Francisco Pedestrian Injury Surveillance: Mapping, Under‐Reporting, and Injury Severity in Police and Hospital Records. Accident Analysis & Prevention 37(6): 11021113.Google Scholar
Shannon, Harry S., and Lowe, Graham S. 2002. How Many Injured Workers Do Not File Claims for Workers’ Compensation Benefits? American Journal of Industrial Medicine 42(6): 467473.Google Scholar
Shavell, Steven. 1996. Any Frequency of Plaintiff Victory at Trial Is Possible. Journal of Legal Studies 25(2): 493501.Google Scholar
Siegelman, Peter, and Waldfogel, Joel. 1999. Toward a Taxonomy of Disputes: New Evidence Through the Prism of the Priest/Klein Model. Journal of Legal Studies 28(1): 101130.Google Scholar
Studdert, David M., and Mello, Michelle M. 2007. When Tort Resolutions Are Wrong: Predictors of Discordant Outcomes in Medical Malpractice Litigation. Journal of Legal Studies 36(S2): S47S78.Google Scholar
Studdert, David M., Mello, Michelle M., Gawande, Atul A., Gandhi, Tejal K., Kachalia, Allen, Yoon, Catherine, Puopolo, Ann L., and Brennan, Troyen A. 2006. Claims, Errors, and Compensation Payments in Medical Malpractice Litigation. New England Journal of Medicine 354(19): 20242033.Google Scholar
Studdert, David M., Thomas, Eric J., Burstin, Helen R., Zbar, Brett I., Orav, E. J., and Brennan, Troyen A. 2000. Negligent Care and Malpractice Claiming Behavior in Utah and Colorado. Medical Care 38(3): 250260.Google Scholar
Taragin, Mark I., Willett, Laura R., Wilczek, Adam P., Trout, Richard, and Carson, Jeffrey L. 1992. The Influence of Standard of Care and Severity of Injury on the Resolution of Medical Malpractice Claims. Annals of Internal Medicine 117(9): 780784.Google Scholar
Tennyson, Sharon. 2008. Moral, Social, and Economic Dimensions of Insurance Claims Fraud. Social Research: An International Quarterly 75(4): 11811204.Google Scholar
Thomas, Eric J., Lipsitz, Stuart R., Studdert, David M., and Breman, Troyen A. 2002. The Reliability of Medical Record Review for Estimating Adverse Event Rates. Annals of Internal Medicine 136(11): 812816.Google Scholar
Thomas, Eric J., Studdert, David M., Burstin, Helen R., Orav, E. J., Zeena, Timothy, Williams, Elliott J., Howard, K. M., Weiler, Paul C., and Brennan, Troyen A. 2000. Incidence and Types of Adverse Events and Negligent Care in Utah and Colorado. Medical Care 38(3): 261271.Google Scholar
Tsui, K. L., So, F. L., Sze, N. N., Wong, S. C., and Leung, T. F. 2009. Misclassification of Injury Severity Among Road Casualties in Police Reports. Accident Analysis & Prevention 41(1): 8489.Google Scholar
Ullman, Michael D., Johnsen, Matthew C., Moss, Kathryn, and Burris, Scott. 2001. The EEOC Charge Priority Policy and Claimants with Psychiatric Disabilities. Psychiatric Services 52(5): 644649.Google Scholar
Vacco, Dennis C., Sue Del Papa, Frankie, Carter, Pamela F., and Gregoire, Christine O. 1995. Letter to the Editor: Free the Courts from Frivolous Prisoner Suits. New York Times March 3.Google Scholar
Vidmar, Neil. 1995. Medical Malpractice and the American Jury: Confronting the Myths About Jury Incompetence, Deep Pockets and Outrageous Damage Awards. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Waldfogel, Joel. 1998. Reconciling Asymmetric Information and Divergent Expectations Theories of Litigation. Journal of Law and Economics 41(2): 451476.Google Scholar
Wallander, Lisa. 2009. 25 Years of Factorial Surveys in Sociology: A Review. Social Science Research 38(3): 505530.Google Scholar
Weisberg, Herbert I., and Derrig, Richard A. 1991. Fraud and Automobile Insurance: A Report on the Baseline Study of Bodily Injury Claims in Massachusetts. Journal of Insurance Regulation 9(4): 497541.Google Scholar
Wolf, Douglas, and Greenberg, David. 1986. The Dynamics of Welfare Fraud: An Econometric Duration Model in Discrete Time. Journal of Human Resources 21(4): 437455.Google Scholar
York, Kenneth M. 1989. Defining Sexual Harassment in Workplaces: A Policy Capturing Approach. Academy of Management Journal 32(4): 830850.Google Scholar
Zwerling, Craig, and Silver, Hillary. 1992. Race and Job Dismissals in a Federal Bureaucracy. American Sociological Review 57(5): 651660.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998).Google Scholar
Harris v. Forklift Sys., 510 U.S. 17 (1993).Google Scholar
In re Silica Prods. Liab. Litig., 398 F. Supp. 2d 563 (S.D. Tex. 2005).Google Scholar
Shady Grove Orthopedic Assocs., P.A. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 130 S. Ct. 1431 (2010).Google Scholar

Statutes Cited

U.S.C. § 2072(b) (2006).Google Scholar