Fair enough.
The Association of Trial Lawyers of America argues that the plaintiffs’ bar is not responsible for frivolous lawsuits. The ATLA claims, instead, that the real frivolous lawsuits are often brought by businesses against other businesses. And they have examples.. I agree with the examples.
This is a partial reaction to the recent announcement of a large drop in the number of federal civil trials. The ATLA makes the point that the litigation explosion is overblown, so to speak.
Of course, federal court is different from state court. Federal question jurisdiction forces some cases into federal court. I once filed a $600 admiralty case in federal court, for example. Meanwhile, diversity jurisdiction keeps a number of cases in state court, skewing federal statistics. Nevertheless, there has also been a gradual drop in state court civil trials, as well. I suspect that this is the result of the diversion of minor cases to arbitration and more cases being resolved in the increasingly popular ADR arena.
Of course, that could mean that some or most of the rest are indeed frivolous. None of the statistics can answer the question: “How many lawsuits are “enough?”
Posted by
Joseph R. McFaul
on Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 00:00
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