Statistical evidence and the problem of robust litigation

We propose a new model of disclosure, interpretation, and management of hard evidence in the context of litigation and similar applications. A litigant has private information and may also possess hard evidence that can be disclosed to a fact-finder, who interprets the evidence and decides a finding...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bull, J. (Author), Watson, J. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. 2019
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
Description
Summary:We propose a new model of disclosure, interpretation, and management of hard evidence in the context of litigation and similar applications. A litigant has private information and may also possess hard evidence that can be disclosed to a fact-finder, who interprets the evidence and decides a finding in the case. We identify conditions under which hard evidence generates value that is robust to the scope of rational reasoning and behavior. These fail if the litigant's private information is sufficiently strong relative to the “face-value signal” of evidence, and then hard evidence may be misleading. Rules that exclude some relevant hard evidence can be justified. © 2019, The RAND Corporation.
ISBN:07416261 (ISSN)
DOI:10.1111/1756-2171.12302