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Comment by gte910h | Hacker News Reader

I hope abuse of process requires bonds per lawsuit/legal communication. I want the prices of suing to go WAY up.

Not in all cases you wouldn't. Ideally we'd like the prices to go way up for these kinds of extortionists while remaining low for individuals who were actually wronged by a large corporation.

You abuse process -> You gain a bond requirement to do anything as a lawyer (Write correspondence, sue people, etc).

Sorry if that wasn't clear I meant "People who have abused process have to post bonds"

That would be a bad move. That way you're basically stopping average joe from enjoying the same privileges as large corporations.

Average joe doesn't have the same privileges as large corporations now.

In a corp vs average joe case, there's a huge inequality, where one of them faces bankruptcy and has to pay a way larger share of his income to sustain litigation, while corporations basically face no punishment (even large fines don't deter them).

Edit: in this case, over ONE MILLION dollars in costs for the lawsuit (and it doesn't sound like a big lawsuit). That's ridiculous.

I wasn't saying that. But that's no reason to actually make it worse.

Why punish poor people?

As I understand it, under the U.S. legal system, poor people can't sustain the cost of litigation anyways (this might be a warped view from outside).

Under almost any system actually

Civil law / inquisitorial lawsuits are significantly cheaper, and legal costs are way cheaper outside the U.S.

The U.S. has the most lawyers in the world (it used to have more lawyers than the rest of the world COMBINED), the most expensive legal system, and the most lawsuits in the world. There are significant movements (including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) for legal reform, and several studies stating those facts:

http://www.uschamber.com/legalreform

"America’s civil justice system is the world’s most expensive, with a direct cost in 2009 of $248.1 billion, or 1.74% of the U.S. GDP.

The tort cost per person was $808 in 2009, a sevenfold increase from 1950 when adjusted for inflation."

http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/how-much-are-frivolous-lawsu...

http://www.towerswatson.com/assets/pdf/3424/Towers-Watson-To...

Spain, for example, offers free legal assistance for lawsuits over 900 euros (link below in english).

http://www.mjusticia.gob.es/cs/Satellite/en/1200666550200/Tr...

The average cost per lawsuit in the European Union (in legal fees, etc) is 3.000 euros (Madrid Mediators Association figure). A "standard" lawsuit costs about 10.000 euros (an example for suing a doctor for malpractice).

For comparison, in the U.S., "Ongoing expenses to prepare and mount a medical malpractice case average around $20,000 -$50,000, but in complicated situations it can be $50,000 -$100,000 "

http://personalfinance.costhelper.com/medical-malpractice-la...

Well you're a telling me that is very very expensive in the US and it's very expensive in europe.

Who can afford to potentially lost 10.000euros in a lawsuit ?

And in this thread we are talking about average Joe fighting against expert/rich companies.

Even if average Joe win the first time, the rich company can do another lawsuit right after and do it again and again until average Joe give up.

It's actually what happened to a friend. They don't care they just put you personal bankrupt. And even if it's not the money, it's a lot of stress and shit like this.

Yes, it's as you say, just a degree between "very very" expensive and "very" expensive - though at least there's the option of some free help in Spain and other countries.

I agree that big companies can do another lawsuit, and the stress and related complications is a huge factor as well :( .

I want legal reform for my country for different reasons (here lawsuits are a lot cheaper but stretch for a lifetime), but the U.S. seems to need a lot of reform as well.

This is indeed correct.

The only people they can afford are plaintiffs attorneys who take the cases on commission.

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