PON – Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School - https://www.pon.harvard.edu
Legal Role-Play:
Sue or Settle
$0.00 – $6.00
Seth Freeman, John Richardson, and Bruce Patton
Four-person, two-party, strategic decision-making exercise to highlight the cost-benefit analysis in determining whether to settle a medical malpractice case or to continue litigation
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SCENARIO:
Two surgeons mistakenly amputate the wrong (healthy) leg of a patient. They were found liable in a previous trial and ordered to pay $1 million in damages.
The controlling law in this case mandates a rule of strict contributory negligence. This means that whoever is found to be more responsible for the accident will have to pay the entire $1 million judgment. This exercise represents the current suit between the two surgeons to determine who will have to pay the judgment.
Each participant in this exercise plays either a surgeon or an attorney; and each surgeon-attorney pair is matched with a second surgeon-attorney pair in the lawsuit. The outcome of the lawsuit will be determined by comparing hands of playing cards. At each stage of the litigation, the surgeons must decide (with the advice of their attorneys) whether to proceed with the litigation or attempt to settle.
Prof. Susskind’s Top 5 Environmental Negotiation Teaching Materials
From time to time, the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center asks PON-affiliated faculty to nominate their top five books, top five teaching videos or top five role-play simulations in certain fields or teaching settings. These change periodically.