Legal Insurance, Litigant Decisions, and the Rising Caseloads of Courts: A West German Study

German prepaid legal insurance is growing both in terms of number of households insured and in terms of extending coverage to new legal areas. Fears for a litigation explosion, however, can be shown to be unfounded-just as are hopes that legal insurance would remove social inequalities of access to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Law & society review 1981-01, Vol.16 (4), p.601-624
Main Author:	Blankenburg, Erhard
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Automobile insurance Court congestion and delay Court/Courts/Courtly Employee insurance German/Germany/Germans/West Germany Insurance Insurance claims Insurance companies Insurance coverage Insurance settlements Legal/Legalism/Legality (see also Law, Legislation) Liability insurance Litigation Plaintiffs Prepaid legal services Traffic accidents
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Summary:	German prepaid legal insurance is growing both in terms of number of households insured and in terms of extending coverage to new legal areas. Fears for a litigation explosion, however, can be shown to be unfounded-just as are hopes that legal insurance would remove social inequalities of access to law. The use of legal insurance turns out to be much more limited than could have been expected. Major effects on financing lawsuits occurred only in defense against traffic fines and regulating traffic accidents. Litigation behavior as measured by indicators of litigiousness (such as risking a lawsuit with poor chance for success, resisting settlement, filing an appeal) does not seem to be affected by removing cost considerations. It appears that social costs determine inclination to litigate to a greater degree than do financial costs.
ISSN:	0023-9216 1540-5893