“It’s Not About the Money!”: A Theory on Misconceptions of Plaintiff’s Litigation Aims

This Article examines from a new angle a long-standing debate on two central questions of the legal system: why do plaintiffs sue, and what do they seek from litigation? Legal research has documented various extra-legal aims or non-economic agendas of plaintiffs who commence legal proceedings for various case-types. However, current debates have failed to address this issue in depth from the perspectives of plaintiffs themselves, subsequent to lawyers conditioning them on “legal system realities” and translating their disputes into legally cognizable compartments. Nor have understandings of plaintiffs’ aims been examined from the perspectives of defense lawyers. These are significant gaps in the knowledge, as plaintiffs’ objectives directly impact their experiences in litigation and litigation-linked processes such as mediation. Likewise, attorneys’ approaches and conduct throughout litigation and mediation processes are premised upon their basic understandings of what those who commenced these suits want.