American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Taking a Financial Position in Your Opponent in Litigation
American Economic Review
vol. 108,
no. 12, December 2018
(pp. 3626–50)
Abstract
Before filing suit, a plaintiff can take a financial position in a defendant firm. A short position benefits the plaintiff by transforming a negative expected-value claim into a positive expected-value one and by enhancing the claim's settlement value. If the capital market is less than strong-form efficient, the plaintiff also benefits directly from the decline in the defendant's stock price. When the defendant is privately informed about the case's merits, bargaining failures can arise. While aggressive short-selling benefits the plaintiff at the expense of the defendant, moderate levels of short-selling can benefit the defendant and raise the settlement rate.Citation
Choi, Albert H., and Kathryn E. Spier. 2018. "Taking a Financial Position in Your Opponent in Litigation." American Economic Review, 108 (12): 3626–50. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20161863Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D82 Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
- G14 Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
- K41 Litigation Process