rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (08/29/83)
I seem to remember hearing about somewhere, somehow (maybe it was just an idea?) the when people brought suits, there existed the possibility of it being decided (probably by the judge) that the suit was frivilous and the 'plaintiff' would have to pay a fine. Anyone ever hear of this??? -- Randwulf (Randy Haskins); Path= genrad!mit-eddie!rh or... rh@mit-ee (via mit-mc)
dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (08/30/83)
In Canada, following the English tradition, a judge in a civil
case awards "costs" at the end. Costs can be anything from a fixed
amount from a tariff (often no more than half of actual lawyers' fees)
to the actual fees that a client must pay his solicitor. If you
bring a frivolous lawsuit, and you lose, you will almost certainly
have costs awarded against you, which means you'll be paying a part
or all of the other side's legal fees. That effectively solves
the problem of frivolous suits, or at least ensures people aren't damaged
too much by them.
Of course, in Ontario we don't have contingent fees (in which
the lawyer is paid a percentage of the profits). So lawyers here aren't
as wild about bringing suits unless their clients can pay (or are likely
to win and have the funds to pay).
Dave Sherman
The Law Society of Upper Canada
Toronto
--
{allegra,cornell,floyd,ihnp4,linus,utzoo,uw-beaver,watmath}!utcsrgv!lsuc!davedembry@hplabs.UUCP (Paul E. Dembry) (08/30/83)
#R:mit-eddi:-67100:hplabs:34100001:000:49 hplabs!dembry Aug 30 12:39:00 1983 Yes, it is for real, but I can't remember where.