There is a fairly long school of thought in ethics that posits that it's an important thing for most people to sacrifice self-interest in the name of justice, s

There is a fairly long school of thought in ethics that posits that it's an important thing for most people to sacrifice self-interest in the name of justice, since it deters injustice. Basically, if most people respond to frivolous lawsuits by fighting them instead of settling or accepting unjust outcomes (within feasibility, of course), then engaging on frivolous lawsuits becomes unrewarding, and even unethical people stop doing so. The same goes for other kinds of bullying behavior. Let me put it this way, if someone you know pointed a gun at you and demanded $100, forcing you to give it to them. Would you later denounce them to the police? Should the state prosecute? It is likely that both you and the police (or, society) are about to spend far more than $100 in arresting and sentencing this person. Yet, it is probably a good thing to do so nonetheless, since it is still a person that has shown themselves willing to engage in armed robbery. Don't get me wrong, if $10K are survivable but fighting the suit will bankrupt you, then you owe it to yourself and your employees to keep the bills paid first. But if you can survive either way, then clearly fighting it is the right thing to do (and, honestly, hiring a lawyer and putting an arbitration clause in future contracts would probably be a good idea, but that's beside the point).