Not so sure about this:
"It also curbs the brand of extortion, so routine in American law as almost to have lost its ethical taint, by which lawyers use the costs of the process itself, or the risk of a fluke outcome found in any trial, to strong-arm their opponents into settlement."
There was a great interview on SGU with Simon Singh, the British writer who was sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association. He talks about how they kept on inflating their costs during the lawsuit to try to force his hand, knowing that he'd have to pay an exorbitant amount if he lost.
Relevant links:
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/archive/podcastinfo.aspx?mid...