Originally Posted by
abelenky
I am not a lawyer, but its clear to me why your #1 is flawed.
Consider this somewhat common scenario:
Small guy gets screwed by big corporation, intentionally or not, and sues.
Big corporation buries him under a mountain of paperwork, discovery, and legal motions.
Even though small guy and his small time attorney have a fairly reasonable case, they end up losing, perhaps on something as small as a technicality.
Now I ask you... is it really justice that the small guy is on the hook for all the legal fees of Mega-Corp and their army of attorneys? It would personally bankrupt him, even if he had a fairly reasonable claim to begin with!
That does not seem like justice to me. I want to know that I could bring a reasonable case, and even risk losing in court, without destroying my entire financial future.
A good point. However, little guys are bankrupted all the time by legal fees already. If the guy has a good case he can go public and the corporation loses much more than winning the case against one individual. The first provision prevents fishing expeditions by people who spill hot coffee on themselves. I think it would be more likely that reasonable cases would be settled favorably. Still, your point raises a valid concern.
WW