Out of Court and Onto the Web

Most plaintiffs likely assume that their lawsuit will be resolved through settlement, trial, or some form of alternative dispute resolution. At worst, they might believe that if the case is not concluded at trial it will be resolved on appeal. When it is over, however, plaintiffs may not necessarily be able to close the book on the incident with confidence that it will not resurface. At the same time, over the last several decades, when litigiousness in American society has seemed to grow by leaps and bounds, physicians found comfort in including confidentiality clauses in their settlement agreements to prevent the general public from evaluating the details of those settlements. An increasing reality, however, is that the aftereffects of a plaintiff filing a medical malpractice claim or of a defendant contesting, or even settling that claim, may continue beyond the litigation.