If the "smart" contract resolves settlements automatically most of the time and most of the disputes get resolved without escalating to the actual legal process

If the "smart" contract resolves settlements automatically most of the time and most of the disputes get resolved without escalating to the actual legal process (which is relatively expensive and slow) then that can save some money. I would treat it essentially as arbitration on steroids; just as in arbitration, you make up an alternative process for deciding who pays whom and how disputes are resolved, so that in most cases you can use the alternate process, however, in unusual cases or boundary cases or outright fraud by one party you can escalate to the full legal system.