Legal System, working as intended.

[AJ Dual]

We don't need "loser pays." We need mandatory sanctions (fines and suspensions) against attorneys who bring frivolous lawsuits. The case of these "kids" is a perfect example. The judge clearly saw it as a frivolous lawsuit devised by the father as revenge against his ex-wife -- yet the judge declined to whack him for it.

I think the wife is well off not being married to a first-class jerk like that ... and I feel sorry for any guy who marries the daughter.

I agree. However, every other idea I can think of to enact "sanity" in the civil courts is to enact some kind of extra layer of "courts for the courts", which certainly will make nothing better, or enforcement of mechanisms in the legal system that already exist, but aren't used.

Either way, you wind up chasing your tail.

Part of it is the trial lawyer lobby, and their representation in political office. Others are judges, who themselves (arguably by necessity) are all lawyers too.

Although trying to split that up so the "sympathy" and "professional courtesy" that creates some of the problem does not exist also quickly delves into solutions where the cure is worse than the disease, and easily could be draconian, or flat out unconstitutional.

Ultimately, it's all a cultural problem that people, and their attorneys feel it's acceptable to go after money in this fashion.

[makattak]

I agree. However, every other idea I can think of to enact "sanity" in the civil courts is to enact some kind of extra layer of "courts for the courts", which certainly will make nothing better, or enforcement of mechanisms in the legal system that already exist, but aren't used.

Either way, you wind up chasing your tail.

Part of it is the trial lawyer lobby, and their representation in political office. Others are judges, who themselves (arguably by necessity) are all lawyers too.

Although trying to split that up so the "sympathy" and "professional courtesy" that creates some of the problem does not exist also quickly delves into solutions where the cure is worse than the disease, and easily could be draconian, or flat out unconstitutional.

Ultimately, it's all a cultural problem that people, and their attorneys feel it's acceptable to go after money in this fashion.

Here's a solution:

Stop allowing a monopoly on legal services. The enforcement mechanism of the market will be brought to bear on the lawyers.

This, of course, is anathema to the legal profession. They don't want the uninitiated to threaten their security.

[MillCreek]

I sometimes wonder if and when the legal profession will follow the lead of the medical profession on this.  It used to be that pretty much all medical care was provided by physicians.  Now you have nurse practitioners, physician assistants, podiatrists and a host of others.  When you strip away the politics of arguing about who is best qualified, the fact remains that about 70% of a primary care medical practice can be done just as well by a ARNP or PA. 

There are many aspects of legal work that can be done by non-lawyers or limited practice officers.  But with the monopoly enjoyed by the American Bar Association and state Bar associations, more work being offshored to foreign lawyers, and the dismal job market for current law graduates, there are not a lot of market forces working to bring change to the situation.  Just like there is no viable reason why we cannot have online law schools but the ABA refuses to accredit them, and you generally need to graduate from an accredited school to be eligible to sit for the Bar.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Keep in mind the US has the highest number of lawyers per capita in the world - 1 for every 265 people.

[Jamisjockey]

Keep in mind the US has the highest number of lawyers per capita in the world - 1 for every 265 people.

But Shootinstudent said there aren't really many frivilous lawsuits, and that its media hype, so that must be the truth.

[De Selby]

I guess it depends on what you define as a 'junk lawsuit'.  In my area, medical malpractice defense, we win around 80% of the cases we take to trial.  Certainly, many of those cases should not have been filed, but rarely are there going to be grounds for successful Rule 11 sanctions.

Of course that's a result of the special tort protections that doctors enjoy - that's why you have a high failure rate but low rate of sanctions.

[AJ Dual]

Keep in mind the US has the highest number of lawyers per capita in the world - 1 for every 265 people.

They're not all trial lawyers.

They're more a product of a fed.gov that's completely out of control. Tax lawyers, employment lawyers, environmental lawyers etc. etc. etc.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

They're not all trial lawyers.

They're more a product of a fed.gov that's completely out of control. Tax lawyers, employment lawyers, environmental lawyers etc. etc. etc.

Also a product of parents relentlessly hounding their kids to become lawyers. Mine have done so for years.

ETA: A new word just for this thread: barratry.

[roo_ster]

Also a product of parents relentlessly hounding their kids to become lawyers. Mine have done so for years.

ETA: A new word just for this thread: barratry.

Didn't Metallica record a song about that? 

[MillCreek]

Of course that's a result of the special tort protections that doctors enjoy - that's why you have a high failure rate but low rate of sanctions.

We have no tort reform or special protections for healthcare providers in Washington state. In some of the other states that I consult in, there are. But I have only done trial work in Washington.

[roo_ster]

We have no tort reform or special protections for healthcare providers in Washington state. In some of the other states that I consult in, there are. But I have only done trial work in Washington.

OTOH, Texas did implement medmal reform in 2003:

http://www.texmed.org/template.aspx?id=5238

[Scout26]

Yes, United States, where I'm still licensed to practice law.  I don't have a statistic, but I can tell you from experience (as can any other practicing lawyer) that sanctions are a real possibility, and they do deter lawyers from filing groundless complaints.

As Ned pointed out, mostly what happens is that the media doesnt get it, so they report half the story and allow us all to enjoy another "crazy lawyer" tale.

Do you manage to type with a straight face?

I looked up the 2010 ADRC for Illinois and here's the numbers and breakdown:
There are 88,774 lawyers in Illinois in 2010.  There were 5,617 greivences filed for alleged ethics violations.  
So that's 6.3% of lawyers had greivences filed against them.  I wonder what the % of Doctors who get sued is?

Out of 5,617 investigations only 148 were sanctioned (the ADRC doesn't list what the sanctions imposed were.)
That's a 2.63% sanction rate. Again, I wonder how many Doctors lose their malpractice suits?

So that's .16% of all lawyers in Illinois were subject to some form of sanctions.  Again, we don't know what the sanctions were, unlike MedMal suits where generally the results are available in court records.

I did find some data on Doctors for 2007-2008.  This was a survey done by the AMA of 5825 practicing doctors, across all specialties.
5.1% had been sued within the last 12 months.
64.8% of those claims had been dropped, withdrawn or dismissed, 25.7% were settled, 4.5% were resolved by alternative dispute mechanism, and 5% went to trial, with the defendant winning 90%.  Average cost of defense was $40,649.

Of course that's a result of the special tort protections that doctors enjoy - that's why you have a high failure rate but low rate of sanctions.

If lawyers were sued for malpractice as much as Doctors were, there would be law schools closing down all over the country.