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Reexamining Litigant Success in State Supreme Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Donald J. Farole Jr.
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Since Marc Galanter (1974) formulated the hypothesis that parties with greater resources, usually “repeat players,” fare better in courts and are better able to influence legal change than “one shotters,” numerous scholars have provided empirical insights into the extent to which stronger parties enjoy advantages in litigation. Studies of U.S. trial courts provide evidence that “haves” do tend to come out ahead (Galanter 1974; Owen 1971; Wanner 1975). Governments generally have been more successful in litigation than businesses and other organizations, which in turn have been more successful than individual litigants. Greater resources allow the “haves” to hire the best lawyers and incur the expenses for extensive discovery, expert witnesses, appeals to higher courts, and other activities. As repeat players, they can structure their interactions with the courts by carefully selecting cases to pursue, engaging in forum shopping, settling cases when the prospects appear low for success at trial or on appeal, implementing comprehensive litigation strategies, and developing favorable legal precedents.

Type
Research Notes
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 33 , Issue 4: Do the “Haves” Still Come Out Ahead? , 1999 , pp. 1043 - 1058
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by the Law and Society Association

Footnotes

A preliminary version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago, April 1998. The research was funded in part by grants from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I thank Nina Gunther, Seth McLaughlin, Michael Tobin, and Michael Vos for their research assistance. I also thank Charles Epp, Steven Puro, Jennifer Segal, and Gregory McAvoy for their comments and suggestions.

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