Making sense of disputes
• How do disputes arise?
• How do disputes evolve?
• What factors affect the likelihood of a
dispute ending up in court (or not)?
• How might the location of the dispute
outside the US affect the disputing process?
Theoretical Framework: Felstiner – Abel - Sarat
CLAIMING
BLAMING
NAMING
Dispute
Grievance
Perceived Injurious
Experience
Unperceived Injurious Experience
Framework outlined by Felstiner, Abel & Sarat
• Unperceived Injurious Experience:
– Injury not recognized by party harmed
BUT identical experience may be viewed
differently by others
– How to explain variation in responses?
• Self-induced
• Externally produced or manipulated
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• Naming => Perceived Injurious Experience
– Experience recognized as injury by
party harmed
– Conclusion may or (may not) be shared
by others
• Blaming => Transformation into Grievance
– Injury attributable to another
– Violation of norm and remediable
• Claiming => Transformation into a
Legal Dispute
– Damages sought from responsible party
– Recovery via courts or informal mechanisms
• What factors affect evolution of disputes?
– Worldview / attitudes of affected individual
– Availability & quality of legal assistance
• Lawyers as gatekeepers
– Availability & quality of tribunals to
resolve disputes
• Wide variety of possible venues to handle disputes
Theoretical Framework: Felstiner – Abel - Sarat
CLAIMING
BLAMING
NAMING
Dispute
Grievance
Perceived Injurious
Experience
Unperceived Injurious Experience
2
Application to Russian Business Context
CLAIMING
1 lawsuit
8 lawsuits
threatened
BLAMING
24 Transactions:
Dissatisfaction expressed
NAMING
100 Sales Transactions
Nature of participants – effect on dispute
• “One-shotters:”
– Individuals or companies who have only
occasional recourse to courts
– High stakes in dispute (relative to net worth)
– Consequence: tendency to play for outcome
• “Repeat players:”
– Often engaged in similar litigation
– Stakes in any specific case small
– Resources to pursue long-term interests
– Consequence: tendency to play for the rules
Plaintiffs / Initiator
One-shotter
Repeat Player
Defendant I.
Oneshotter
Repeat
player
•
•
•
OS v. OS
II.
RP v. OS
Custody or divorce
Inheritance
Neighborhood
dispute
•
•
•
Criminal case
Landlord v. tenant
IRS v. taxpayer
III. OS v. RP
IV. RP v. RP
•
•
•
•
•
Tenant v. landld
Franchise v.
franchisor
Bankrupt v. creditor
•
union v. company
Purchaser v.
supplier
Developer v. govt
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