the.com/settlement
Where lawyers admit nothing while writing checks with all the regret of nine zeros.
means A formal agreement that resolves a dispute or claim, often involving payment, without anyone necessarily admitting fault — or, more broadly, a place where people put down roots and build a community.
from From the verb "settle," which traces back to Old English "setlan," meaning to bring to rest, to seat, to make firm — itself from "setl," a seat or place to sit, a cousin of the same root that gives us "sit" and "saddle." The "-ment" suffix, borrowed from French and ultimately Latin, turned the verb into a thing: the act or result of settling. So whether it's a frontier village or a courtroom check, the word carries the same old idea — taking something restless and unresolved and finally letting it come to rest.
- hush money
- Most include gag clauses called non-disclosure agreements
- 95 percent
- That many civil lawsuits settle before reaching trial
- no admission
- Paying millions while legally denying any wrongdoing
- ancient roots
- Babylonian law mandated compensation payments four thousand years ago
- structured
- Some payouts dribble out over decades, not lump sums
jamestown — first permanent english settlement in north america, founded 1607 in virginia
plymouth colony — separatist settlement founded 1620 in massachusetts by the mayflower passengers
israeli settlements — over 230 jewish communities built in occupied west bank since 1967