The powerful apology

It is no suprise that a simple apology can often calm a tense and heated situation. A problem we have now is that many times a person or corporate entity will not apologize because because of the litigious nature of our society. This is a shame since many, but not all, situations only warrant a simple, harmless, but valuable apology. Just a thought here, but if an open apology was not admissible in court as evidence of guilt, maybe we would apologize to the wronged more often, and sue less.