A Theory of Legal Presumptions

49 Pages Posted: 11 Jul 2000

See all articles by Antonio E. Bernardo

Antonio E. Bernardo

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Finance Area

Eric L. Talley

Columbia University - School of Law; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Ivo Welch

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 1999

Abstract

This article analyzes how legal presumptions can mediate between costly litigation and ex ante incentives. We augment a moral hazard model with a redistributional litigation game in which a presumption parameterizes how a court 'weighs' evidence offered by the opposing sides. Strong prodefendant presumptions foreclose lawsuits altogether, but also engender shirking. Strong proplaintiff presumptions have the opposite effects. Moderate presumptions give rise to equilibria in which both shirking and suit occur probabilisitically. The socially optimal presumption trades off agency costs against litigation costs, and could be either strong or moderate, depending on the social importance of effort, the costs of filing suit, and the comparative advantage that diligent agents have over their shirking counterparts in mounting a defense. We posit three applications of our model: the litigation rate effects of the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the business judgment rule in corporations law, and fiduciary duties in financially distressed firms.

JEL Classification: D81, D82

Suggested Citation

Bernardo, Antonio E. and Talley, Eric L. and Welch, Ivo, A Theory of Legal Presumptions (June 1999). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=202354

Antonio E. Bernardo (Contact Author)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Finance Area ( email )

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481
United States
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Eric L. Talley

Columbia University - School of Law ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.erictalley.com

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

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Ivo Welch

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.ivo-welch.info

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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