In this paper Gillian Hadfield of University of Southern California report the results of a quantitative and qualitative empirical study of how those who were injured or lost a family member in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks evaluated the tradeoff between a cash payment – available through the Victim Compensation Fund – and the pursuit of litigation. Responses make it clear that potential plaintiffs saw much more at stake than monetary compensation and that the choice to forego litigation required the sacrifice of important non?monetary, civic, values: obtaining and publicizing information about what happened, prompting public findings of accountability for those responsible, and participating in the process of ensuring that there would be responsive change to what was learned about how the attacks and deaths happened. The results shed light on the framing component of the transformation of disputes, and in particular on how potential litigants see the decision to sue, or not, as a decision as much or more about how they understand their relationship to their community and their responsibilities as a citizen as how they evaluate monetary considerations.
NADRAC: National ADR Research Forum
NADRAC is convening its fourth National ADR Research Forum at Griffith University in Brisbane from 16-17 July 2010.
This Forum has two significant objectives:
- to provide an opportunity for dialogue about broader trends and issues in ADR research between researchers, practitioners, service provider organisations, courts and tribunals and policy developers from Federal and State and Territory Governments, and
- to provide experiences ADR researchers, and those who are new to the field, with an opportunity to present their research projects and to develop and extend their ideas.
