Of course it's ridiculous. They are hoping that twitter just pays them to go away. If it loks like twitter has a backbone and it's going to actual court, they can just drop the case. Why not? It's free to try.
Well not entirely free. It will cost them something in court and legal fees right?
It depends. I am not a lawyer, and certainly not an American torts expert (or a tort expert in any nation) but I believe that certain states have statutes in place that allow the judge discretion in assigning the defendant's legal fees to the plaintiff, if the defendant wins the case.
Right, but the suggestion was that it's free to try, even if the case ends up being thrown out.
You are right - my mistake. I misread the original post as it being "free" for Twitter to allow it to go to court and run their defense against the lawsuit from there. Did not realize that the OP was implying free from the plaintiff's perspective. Sorry about that!
It costs quite a bit, even to deal with trivial cases. Six figures at a minimum for show up at the courthouse, mostly in attorney's fees.
Not if you get a lawyer to take your case for a % of the eventual settlement/suit. Which I think is a relatively common practice. Not sure how it works and I am not an expert, but I imagine a lot of enterprising lawyers would be willing to take that deal. Twitter will likely settle to end it, and they can take a good percentage.
Contingency counsel is usually only found on the plaintiff side. Twitter will use a big, reputable, and expensive defense firm.