From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishout-of-court settlementˌout-of-court ˈsettlement noun [countable] SCLan agreement to end a legal argument, in which one side agrees to pay money to the other so that the problem is not brought to court → settle something out of court at court1(1)
Examples from the Corpus
out-of-court settlement• Infringements can be dealt with by an out-of-court settlement or if necessary by civil proceedings.• South Yorkshire police yesterday awarded Mr Long an out-of-court settlement before the case reached Sheffield high court.• The advantages of trying to obtain an out-of-court settlement at a relatively early stage in the proceedings are therefore obvious.• The women, who were on legal aid, were offered an out-of-court settlement which would have barely covered their legal fees.• The army denied liability but agreed on an out-of-court settlement.• He received an out-of-court settlement last year.• But Education Department lawyers made the out-of-court settlement and agreed to pay his £12,000 costs. 