Signaling, Learning, and Screening Prior to Trial: Informational Implications of Preliminary Injunctions
研究了初步禁令的申请和裁决如何产生信息并影响和解，发现原告可能通过申请禁令来传递损害上限信号以获得更好和解要约，且禁令被拒后和解增加，总体上学习效应促进更多和解。
Preliminary injunctions (PIs) are important in litigation in many settings, including antitrust, copyright, patent, trademark, employment and labor relations, and contracts. The filing of a PI and the court's ruling generate information that can impact settlement. We find that some plaintiffs request a PI to signal bounds on their damages in order to elicit better settlement offers. As a result, the parties are more likely to come to an out-of-court agreement permitting the disputed activity, compared to when a PI is motivated solely by defensive reasons to avert immediate damages during trial. Although the grant of a PI reduces ex post incentives for potential litigants to settle, this is more than offset by an increase in settlement upon a denial. Thus, ex ante, learning leads to more settlement. Nevertheless, the anticipation of learning and increased chances of settlement do not affect the initial filing decision.