Task: songer_direct1

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to determine the ideological directionality of the court of appeals decision, coded as "liberal" or "conservative". Consider liberal to be for government tax claim; for person claiming patent or copyright infringement; for the plaintiff alleging the injury; for economic underdog if one party is clearly an underdog in comparison to the other, neither party is clearly an economic underdog; in cases pitting an individual against a business, the individual is presumed to be the economic underdog unless there is a clear indication in the opinion to the contrary; for debtor or bankrupt; for government or private party raising claim of violation of antitrust laws, or party opposing merger; for the economic underdog in private conflict over securities; for individual claiming a benefit from government; for government in disputes over government contracts and government seizure of property; for government regulation in government regulation of business; for greater protection of the environment or greater consumer protection (even if anti-government); for the injured party in admiralty - personal injury; for economic underdog in admiralty and miscellaneous economic cases. Consider the directionality to be "mixed" if the directionality of the decision was intermediate to the extremes defined above or if the decision was mixed (e.g., the conviction of defendant in a criminal trial was affirmed on one count but reversed on a second count or if the conviction was afirmed but the sentence was reduced). Consider "not ascertained" if the directionality could not be determined or if the outcome could not be classified according to any conventional outcome standards.

PER CURIAM.
While there is a direct conflict in the testimony material to the issues presented by these motions, nevertheless it appears by a clear preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiff company authorized its counsel to enter into the agreed ment of settlement upon the terms and conditions named therein, and that substantially the only complaint made by the plaintiff through its president, Baldwin, after the decree was entered, was in reference to the fee charged by its counsel, which fee plaintiff considered excessive. This conclusion naturally follows from the testimony of the witnesses Atkinson and Hogan, to the effect that a few days after plaintiff had been notified of the settlement, and advised that the fees of its counsel would be $1,500, Baldwin, the president of the company, called at the office of Atkinson, Smith & Hogan, in the absence of Mr. Smith, and, without making any other objection to the settlement, said to Mr. Hogan, in the presence of Mr. Atkinson: “Why, Mr. Hogan, do you think I would have accepted this settlement had I known your fees were to be that size?” This testimony is not denied by the plaintiff, and was evidently believed by the District Court.
It is further contended on the part of the appellant that this agreement was wholly void, in that it contained a provision for compounding, abandoning, or agreement to abandon, a criminal prosecution already commenced. However that may be, it cannot affect the disposition of these motions. Litigants may not trifle with courts. When the court is informed that the matter in controversy has been settled and adjusted by the parties themselves, and the terms and conditions are not disclosed, the court has a right to presume that such contract of settlement is lawful.
A decree dismissing the action, made and entered at the request, and with the consent, of the parties, and upon the representations that the cause is settled and adjusted, will not be vacated merely because a dispute has later arisen between one of the litigants and his counsel as to fees; nor will the decree be vacated because the contract of settlement contains terms and provisions in violation of law. In such event, the court will leave the parties where they have placed themselves by their own illegal contract.
Eor the reasons stated, and without expressing or intending to express any opinion as to the legality or illegality of this contract of settlement, the decree of the District Court is affirmed.

Question: What is the ideological directionality of the court of appeals decision?
A. conservative
B. liberal
C. mixed
D. not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: A