A Note on Presumptions with Sequential Litigation

This note extends the Bernardo, Talley & Welch (1999) model of presumptions to study situations where litigation efforts are spent sequentially rather than simultaneously. The equilibria of the litigation stage are presented as functions of b. Two characteristics distinguish this case from the simultaneous one. First, sequentiality allows the principal to pre-commit to a litigation strategy, and thus possibly preempt litigation effort by both agenttypes. Second, while the description of the equilibria is more complex (and must be divided into four regions of b), the comparative statics that emerge are somewhat simpler than in the simultaneous case.