A Way to Clean Up Ecuador's Oil Mess

There comes a time in most big-dollar litigation battles when the combatants consider compromise. In August, Apple and Samsung began winding down a four-year global patent war, announcing they’d drop suits against each other outside the U.S. That’ll end court fights in Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, and South Korea. The National Football League and thousands of former athletes, meanwhile, are wrapping up a $950 million truce over concussion liability. With its recent $16.7 billion pact, Bank of America puts to rest various government mortgage claims related to the 2008 financial crisis.

Legal compromise has a compelling logic. Litigation takes on a neurotic, swirling momentum that’s both expensive and progressively divorced from any underlying merits. Apple and Samsung should make smartphones, not legal motions. Football belongs on the field, not in a federal courthouse. At some point, rationality demands putting a price tag on alleged wrongdoing, providing a remedy to purported victims, and getting back to business.