1. It is not possible for a mere award of money to put him in the position he would have enjoyed had the bargain been performed. The bargain must therefore be performed. But the courts rarely compel the specific performance of a contract, save where it is one for the sale of real estate, since every parcel of real property is deemed to be unique, special, and uniquely valuable to its owner. There are other kinds of contracts that can be specifically enforced, but their number is limited and dwindling in an unsentimental, commercial world in which the payment of money is usually deemed the proper remedy for every loss or disappointment suffered. Under certain circumstances, an aggrieved party can avoid a contract that he previously agreed to make. This is known as rescission or avoidance of the contract. By this relief, the parties are to be placed in the position in which they found themselves before the contract was made.
2. Litigants have mutual incentives to save on litigation costs by settling out of court. They avoid uncertain trial outcomes and delays and can agree to keep settlements confidential. In some cases, settlements may be reached through alternative methods of dispute resolution, such as voluntary arbitration or mediation Generally, details of civil disputes settled before a trial are not reported to the courts and hence are not included in publicly available data Those data therefore show only part of the picture—there may be important differences between cases that go to trial and cases that settle out of court. For example, cases that go to trial probably involve larger dollar amounts, on average. Nevertheless, trial verdicts set precedents for all cases and thus affect the incentive to settle by signaling the value and probability of success to future litigants.
