Kasha, here is the article, I don't have a link. The guy that originally posted this to the thread, Peterson, may have it.
From the July 9, 1999 "Business Week" Upfront section:
I-Way Patrol
Next, Online Bids Over Jail Times?
With Amazon.com auctions and eBay.com on the Net, it was only a matter of time before someone took things a little further and let clients bid on justice. clickNsettle.com, a new subsidiary of National Arbitration & Mediation (NAM) takes the hidden bid aspect of cyber houses and applied it to settling civil cases online.
No other online mediation service shares clickNsettle's methodology. First, the wronged party files a claim against the defendant, often an insurance company. clickNsettle.com notifies the insurer via E-mail. The insurer then confidentially submits online three amounts it is willing to pay to settle. The claimant submits an amount considered satisfactory. It it falls within a specified range of one of the bids, the matter is resolved. If not, the claimant has two more bids. The claimant pays clickNsettle.com $75, win or lose. If he wins, the maximum fee for bringing the case is $275.
A settlement may take only weeks, says CEO Roy Israel. NAM says insurers, such as Travelers, like the idea because they can avoid endless haggling. And if none of the bids are acceptable? There's always mediation, or the right to a day in court.
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