Paying the (Court) Costs

I think that the easiest way to cut down the plethora of frivolous lawsuits is to pass a federal statute that says that the loser and the law firm of any lawsuit, be it federal, civil, class-action, or any other type, must pay all the legal fees and court costs of BOTH SIDES of the lawsuit.

Recently, a fan at a Jets game in 2008 sued a player who threw a gigantic snowball at him. If you watch the video (here), you see that the fan is excited to have been the recipient of the snowball, sort of dances around and waves the big ball of snow around in celebration. Yet, two years later, he is suing the player for lost wages, emotional damages, future lost earnings, and a whole host of other issues.

If he had been injured enough to be out of work due to this incident, he would not be reacting as he did to it. He would have gone down in a heap and not gotten up. Paramedics would have been called to the stadium and he would have left on a gurney and been in the hospital in traction.

The man is suing because the economy sucked (and continues to be weaker than expected), he's out of work, and he has this tenuous link to someone with a lot of money who might settle out of court for a nice lump sum to help the man make his ends meet. Now, imagine if the (scum-sucking) lawyer who thought this was a good idea had to think for a moment and decide if it was worth the risk of having to help pay the fees for the defendant should they lose. A lot of these marginal, ambulance-chasing lawyers couldn't afford to stay in business if they had to help pay the thousands of dollars the other side charged. And most individuals would think twice about suing in the first place if they were worried about paying 50% of the court costs and legal fees of the other side in the litigation.

However, I don't think this would be so bad a negative that it would stop those who feel they have a legitimate claim to make against someone or a business. There would be more calculation and risk involved, sure. And more cases would likely go to where they belong: small claims court.

Something needs to be done to clean up, streamline, and assist the overburdened legal system in America. I think this one step could do all three, but virtually eliminating frivolous lawsuits from the system.