미국 민사소송에서 화해 및 타협의 과정에서 한 행위나 진술의 증거능력 제한

Admissibility of Evidence of a Conduct or a Statement made during Compromise or Negotiation in American Civil Procedure

It is reasonable that legal disputes are solved by compromise or negotiation. Settlement is critical when the solution is compelled to the economic or social weaker person by the stronger one. And the mind of Rule of Law may be lessened by recommending settlement. But settlement has merits in continuing the future relation between the struggling parties, in resolving the dispute by a reasonable result, and in putting the struggle to a quick end. In american civil procedure, even if the evidence is relevant, it may be excluded for prejudice, confusion, or other reasons. By Federal Rules of Evidence rule 408, evidence of compromise offers and negotiation is not admissible. This legal system is unfamiliar to Korean civil procedure. I want to study this subject, so this article reviews the legitimacy and basis of inadmissibility of evidence of compromising the claim, and analyzes the decisions of applying the rule either by liberal interpretation or by restrictive interpretation. By analyzing the concrete decisions of diverse jurisdictions, the cases of exlcuding the evidence are introduced either to prove or disprove the validity of amount of a dispute claim or to impeach by a prior inconsistent statement or a contradiction. And exceptionally the cases of admitting the evidence are introduced to prove a witness's bias or prejudice, to negate a contention of undue delay or to obstruct a criminal investigation or prosecution. I want this article to be useful in introducing american evidence rule of the theme and in developping Korean evidence system about excluding evidence of compromise, negotiation or settlement.