When a plaintiff settles with one of several jointly liable defendants and proceeds to trial or judgment against the remaining defendants, a pro tanto credit reduces the amount collectible from the non-settling defendants by the exact dollar amount the plaintiff already received in settlement. This prevents the plaintiff from recovering more than their total damages while still preserving the non-settling defendants' full joint-and-several exposure up to the credit.

Pro tanto is one of two common approaches to allocating settlement credit; the alternative, a proportionate-share credit, reduces the non-settling defendants' liability by the settling defendant's assigned percentage of fault rather than the actual settlement dollar amount, regardless of whether that dollar figure was higher or lower than the settling party's fair share. Which rule applies is typically set by statute or case law and can significantly change a remaining defendant's exposure.

Juricratic applies the applicable credit rule as a deterministic post-verdict adjustment in a multi-defendant simulation, so a party negotiating an early settlement can see, before signing, exactly how that settlement amount will reduce a non-settling co-defendant's exposure under the jurisdiction's actual credit rule rather than a rough assumption.

Defense counsel evaluating an early settlement in a multi-defendant case calculate how a pro tanto or proportionate-share credit will apply to remaining co-defendants, and plaintiffs' counsel structure settlement timing and amounts with the applicable credit rule in mind to preserve maximum total recovery across all defendants.