Legal Reform - Loser Pays

Reducing Frivolous Law Suits

I've been giving some thought to litigation reform and the idea of "loser pays" as a way of discouraging frivolous lawsuits. The justice system of this country is a laughing stock of the world and it very much needs to be fixed. Most "normal" contries have "loser pays" rules so that if you sue someone, and you lose, you have to pay their legal expenses. This discourages frivolous lawsuits and makes it unprofitable for someone to sue you and get your money because it's cheaper to pay them off that to prove you're right. In America, even when you win you lose. The lawyers always win. And it's us citizens who are paying to support 2/3rds of the worlds lawyers. Many foreign companies won't do business in America because of our legal system. And I don't blame them. Our system is here to make lawyers rich and it needs to be changed to support the needs of the people.

I support loser pays if it is done right. Here's my thoughts on doing it right.

For loser pays to work, it should only apply to the plaintiff, the one who brings the suit. If it were to apply to the defendant then a well financed plaintiff would be able to take advantage of poor defendants and it would make things worse. There also needs to be a mechanism to make the judge be able to waive loser pays under certian guidelines. This would allow really close cases and special circumstances to be able to be handled in a just manner.

Lawyer Pays

A loser pays plan should also include a provision for "lawyer pays". Lawyer pays should be used in situations where the judge decides that the case was brought without merit or in cases where the lawyers have violated the rules of professional conduct. If a lawyer behaves in a manner that isn't honest and ethical, the lawyer, not the client, should pay the legal expenses of the other party. This would help enforce legal ethics which are given mere lip service here in America.

In cases where a lawyer has committed fraud, or has participated with his client in the fabrication of false or fraudulent evidence, the lawyer should pay tripple damages. Most people don't know this but lawyers are not allowed to lie in Court. If a lawyer lies to a judge the lawyer is committing "Fraud upon the Court" which in theory should get him disbarred. However, lawyers lying to the court is standard operating procedure in this country.

If these reforms are put into effect we can restore justice to the justice system and allow law abiding citizens to not have to live in fear of the courts. Our court systems have rules of ethics and rules of professional conduct. If these rules which already exist were enforced we wouldn't have the world's worst legal system. We citizens need to demand the highest standards of ethics and insist that lawyers and judges meet these high standards. The judicial system is suppose to serve the prople, not to be a tool to make lawyers rich.