Nurse asks why settlements have fallen
Nurse asks why fewer cases are settling. Rivera says settlements are difficult to trend and depend on respondent cooperation and meaningful outcomes, while Kamuf Ward says attorneys are balancing settlements with trials and complex cases.
Okay.
And we saw that the settlements have fallen, the number of settlements have fallen.
Why do you think there are fewer cases settling?
Settlements are very difficult to trend, right?
They're going to be, A, we're really relying on the cooperation of the respondents in those cases.
And we're also really focusing on what meaningful resolution and outcomes we can achieve for individuals, right?
Whether that's emotional distress damages, back rent, rent credits, modifications to their home, securing apartments.
And on the broader side, right, we want to make sure that we're really calling respondents in, as the Deputy Commissioner of MOPD mentioned, right?
We don't want to think just about what it means to comply.
How do we make sure that landlords and employers and providers of public accommodations are really building in policies that make gender, or excuse me, make equity and justice, right,
the status quo in every situation and not just responsive and punitive.
Right.
Understood.
I think I'll just add to that.
I mean, I think we've talked already about the role of attorneys.
It's the same folks who are working on settling cases that are also taking cases to trial, which can be quite labor-intensive and where you have, again, complex cases and complex facts.
So we're looking at kind of how to marshal our resources all the time in terms of bringing cases to trial and getting kind of big, big wins, like some of the cases we've talked about, versus settling cases.
And I think just adding to what the assistant commissioner said.