Hush money

We provide a simple incomplete-information model wherein an initially uninf ormed plaintiff makes a menu of settlement demands (one of which involves c onfidentiality) of the informed defendant. The defendant is informed about both his culpability in the harm suffered by the current plaintiff and the existence of other plaintiffs. The possibility that there are other plainti ffs the defendant might face improves the current plaintiffs bargaining pos ition, as the likelihood of follow-on suits depends upon the visibility of the outcome of the current case. For this reason, the defendant may be will ing to pay "hush money.".