Instructions for submitting a report of a settlement to the Jury Verdict Reporter
Please read the following instructions for submitting a report of a settlement for consideration for inclusion in the Jury Verdict Reporter’s Settlements by Category publication.
***New Requirement***
JVR will publish recently settled matters only. Please submit a report of the settlement within thirty (30) days of the date the parties reached a settlement agreement. Absent extenuating circumstances, we may decline publishing a report of a settlement if the time between your submission to us and the date the matter settled is greater than thirty (30) days.
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The JVR Settlements by Category publishes negotiated settlements. This includes matters that settled pre-suit, pre-trial, post-trial, or pursuant to mediation. This publication does not include binding arbitration awards.
Hit the red button that says, “DOWNLOAD THE JVR SETTLEMENT REPORT FORM & INSTRUCTIONS” above.
It is a word document. Please save it as a word document. Do not convert it or save the document as a pdf.
Save the document with a label that identifies your firm name, plaintiff’s gender/age, and settlement amount, for example: Smith & Jones M-25 $350,000.
Email this completed form to JVRsettlementreports@lawbulletinmedia.com. Include the form label in the subject line (e.g., Smith & Jones M-25 $350,00). Please include only ONE form per email.
If you believe your settlement is a record, let us know. We will conduct an evaluation and include a statement that the matter is a record in the text of our summary. We will refer it to the editor of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin for consideration.
To avoid delays in publication, please complete all fields. If the report is complete and accepted for publication, it will be published in next calendar month’s edition and available in Lawyerport on the final Friday of the month.
Please email JVRsettlementreports@lawbulletinmedia.com if you have any questions.
Special instructions for confidential settlements
The JVR publishes reports of confidential settlements. If the settlement is confidential, we will not include the parties’ names, or any information that could lead to the identification of the parties. We will refer to the parties as “pltf” and “deft.” (Note that if the matter is not confidential, we refer to the plaintiff by their first name. If a party is a minor, we will refer to him or her as “pltf” or “deft.”)
DO NOT provide any confidential information or any information that could lead to the identification of the parties on pages 1-2 of the form. Write “confidential” in the fields for the case number and parties’ names.
Specific information required for publication of confidential settlements. All reports, including confidential settlements, must include specific information to be considered for publication. If the confidentiality agreement prohibits the disclosure of the venue or other specific information, we will not publish a report of the settlement. At minimum, we must include the following:
- The Venue (i.e., the district or county where a lawsuit was filed, or if the matter settled pre-suit, would have been filed).
- Sufficient details about the circumstances that gave rise to litigation so that we can tell a story. JVR may choose not to publish a report of a confidential settlement if the details are insufficient.
- Plaintiff’s age (or age range, e.g., “50’s”) and gender.
- A brief description of the injuries. In the case of a wrongful death, provide the cause of death.
- Settlement amount is required for the amount to be included in the in a firm’s year-end totals. If the settlement amount is confidential, it will be calculated as $0 in the year-end totals.
Confidential settlements must be verified. Before we can publish a report of a confidential settlement, we must verify that the settlement indeed occurred. We can verify a settlement by one of two methods: Verification by case number OR verification by confirmation from defense attorneys. See below:
Verification by case number: Provide the case file number in the field on page three of the form. The case number should be on page three only and in no other field on the form. We WILL NOT include the case file number in confidential settlements in the publication.
Many defense firms will allow disclosure of the case file number to the JVR for verification purposes only and will allow a specific exception in the confidentiality agreement.
Verification by confirmation from defense attorneys: If the matter settled pre-suit, we will accept emailed confirmation from a defense attorney or an insurance adjustor.
When you submit the form to us, copy defense attorneys or adjustors. In the email, explain that you are submitting the attached form to us for publication, and request that defense attorneys reply all with the word “confirm.” Here is an example of the text you can use:
Dear [defense attorneys],
We are submitting the attached Settlement Report Submission Form to the Jury Verdict Reporter for publication. In order to maintain the terms of the confidentiality agreement, we have provided only general information regarding the settlement and no information that could reveal the identities of the parties. JVR requires verification of the settlement agreement. JVR will not publish your names or any other confidential information. To confirm the matter settled, simply reply all and write “confirmed.” Thank you.
If you would prefer that we email defense attorneys to request confirmation, we will do so. Provide the names, firms, and email addresses of the defense attorneys in the field on page three of the form. We will not include the names of defense attorneys or firms.
If you choose to have JVR contact defense attorneys, please let them know in advance that you will be submitting a report to JVR for publication, and that JVR will be emailing them to verify the settlement. In our experience, defense attorneys are more amenable to the request if they are not surprised. We will copy the person who submitted the report in all correspondence with defense attorneys. We will send a follow-up request to defense attorneys, if necessary.
Note that even if we have verified that a settlement occurred, we will not publish a report of a confidential settlement if defendants or their counsel oppose its publication.
If you have any questions about submitting a settlement report to JVR, please contact Beth Ann Zaretsky at bzaretsky@lawbulletinmedia.com