(November 19, 2016 at 12:33 am)Cecelia Wrote: It's good that the students get their money back--but I wish they'd stop letting people admit to 'no fault' in lawsuits like this.
It kind of has to be that way because it ensures the case can't be re-litigated. That is, once the matter is settled, a plaintiff can't try to reopen the case because they've acknowledged that the defendant wasn't at fault. It accomplishes the conveyance of an award to the plaintiff and a guaranteed end of the case for the defendant. In addition, the stipulation of confidentiality minimizes any further controversy for both sides. Also, settlement is always encouraged because it's cheaper and faster than settling. Once the matter gets into court, all kinds of unpredictable things can happen. The only things that are predictable is that it'll gum up the court calendar, run up the costs to the public, and run up the party's attorneys fees. So in the end, the admittedly non-intuitive nature of saying, "I did nothing wrong, so here's $25 million dollars" actually does a great service to all involved.
