4 ms·

You're missing the other half of the equation. If Joe has legitimate grounds to win the lawsuit, high-dollar lawyers will flock to him, since their high fees wi

You're missing the other half of the equation. If Joe has legitimate grounds to win the lawsuit, high-dollar lawyers will flock to him, since their high fees will be fully paid by a huge company when they win.

Daniel_Newby 13y ago
What would actually happen is that high-dollar lawyers would not take low-dollar cases. Small fraud would be effectively legalized.
- seabee 13y ago
  Except that low-dollar cases are dealt with through a small claims court: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/law_e/law_legal_system_e/law_taking_legal_action_e/small_claims.htm http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/law_e/law_legal_system...
  - Daniel_Newby 13y ago
    Perhaps. Fraud tends to require an extensive discovery process to establish the facts, but small claims court is optimized for cases where the facts are agreed upon but the application of law is in dispute.
    - kamjam 13y ago
      There's also the police, whose job it is to investigate crime...
- darkarmani 13y ago
  Good. Small fraud doesn't really matter when you are talking about patents, because they are so expensive to get and litigate. Patents that aren't valuable shouldn't block innovation.
  - webjprgm 13y ago
    Could we have loser-pays-cost only for patent lawsuits?
- njharman 13y ago
  Also, instead of Patent trolls there would be (even more) lawsuit trolls. Every mechanism has a means to game it.
ethanazir 13y ago
Lawyer's fees will be higher dollar all around if loser is forced to pay.
vsl 13y ago
You’re missing the part about costs being controlled. Their high fees won’t be paid — some portion of them will. Similar system works where I live: there’s a well defined attorney hourly fee, which is what is used to calculate the reimbursement of attorney’s fees of the winning party. If you hired better lawyer, you still have to pay the difference from your pocket. Presumably the idea is to limit abusively large fees.

Daniel_Newby 13y ago

What would actually happen is that high-dollar lawyers would not take low-dollar cases. Small fraud would be effectively legalized.

seabee 13y ago
Except that low-dollar cases are dealt with through a small claims court: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/law_e/law_legal_system_e/law_taking_legal_action_e/small_claims.htm http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/law_e/law_legal_system...
- Daniel_Newby 13y ago
  Perhaps. Fraud tends to require an extensive discovery process to establish the facts, but small claims court is optimized for cases where the facts are agreed upon but the application of law is in dispute.
  - kamjam 13y ago
    There's also the police, whose job it is to investigate crime...
darkarmani 13y ago
Good. Small fraud doesn't really matter when you are talking about patents, because they are so expensive to get and litigate. Patents that aren't valuable shouldn't block innovation.
- webjprgm 13y ago
  Could we have loser-pays-cost only for patent lawsuits?
njharman 13y ago
Also, instead of Patent trolls there would be (even more) lawsuit trolls. Every mechanism has a means to game it.

ethanazir 13y ago

Lawyer's fees will be higher dollar all around if loser is forced to pay.

vsl 13y ago

You’re missing the part about costs being controlled. Their high fees won’t be paid — some portion of them will. Similar system works where I live: there’s a well defined attorney hourly fee, which is what is used to calculate the reimbursement of attorney’s fees of the winning party. If you hired better lawyer, you still have to pay the difference from your pocket. Presumably the idea is to limit abusively large fees.