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<blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 8604821" data-attributes="member: 7023840">That's not the only reason. The real reason is ... leverage. Most cases (and when I say most, I don't mean 60%, I mean 99%) don't get resolved by a jury. So if you file counterclaims (get the Plaintiff's &quot;skin in the game&quot;) then you are more likely to reach a settlement that is beneficial. This is correct. Quick note- there is a difference between &quot;costs&quot; (things like reasonable expert fees and per diem for a court reporter) and attorney's fees. Costs are almost always recoverable by the winning party.Fees, however, are not recoverable. It's called the American Rule. Unless there is a specific provision (a contract, a statute) that allows for a party to recover their fees, then you don't get back your attorney's fees.This leads to two outcomes-1.&nbsp; Contracts with &quot;prevailing party fees&quot; are very common.2. Those laws that allow recovery of attorney's fees are very popular with Plaintiff's attorney's, especially if they aren't fully reciprocal (many of them allow the Plaintiff to collect fees, but the Defendants to get fees only if the Plaintiff's case has no objective merit).Finally, from the big-picture perspective, the American Rule is thought to make it more fair for &quot;regular people&quot; to access the justice system, knowing that they won't be on the hook for The Man's legal fees, with the disadvantage of allowing more frivolous litigation.Whether any of that is true or not is up to you. (I don't think I'm going to add any more general comments as this moves pretty far afield from the TSR/LaNasa issues and is more general stuff, and I think it's better to focus on the specific, RPG-related issue for this forum.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Snarf Zagyg, post: 8604821, member: 7023840"] That's not the only reason. The real reason is ... leverage. Most cases (and when I say most, I don't mean 60%, I mean 99%) don't get resolved by a jury. So if you file counterclaims (get the Plaintiff's "skin in the game") then you are more likely to reach a settlement that is beneficial. This is correct. Quick note- there is a difference between "costs" (things like reasonable expert fees and per diem for a court reporter) and attorney's fees. Costs are almost always recoverable by the winning party. Fees, however, are not recoverable. It's called the American Rule. Unless there is a specific provision (a contract, a statute) that allows for a party to recover their fees, then you don't get back your attorney's fees. This leads to two outcomes- 1. Contracts with "prevailing party fees" are very common. 2. Those laws that allow recovery of attorney's fees are very popular with Plaintiff's attorney's, especially if they aren't fully reciprocal (many of them allow the Plaintiff to collect fees, but the Defendants to get fees only if the Plaintiff's case has no objective merit). Finally, from the big-picture perspective, the American Rule is thought to make it more fair for "regular people" to access the justice system, knowing that they won't be on the hook for The Man's legal fees, with the disadvantage of allowing more frivolous litigation. Whether any of that is true or not is up to you. (I don't think I'm going to add any more general comments as this moves pretty far afield from the [B]TSR/LaNasa[I] [/I][/B]issues and is more general stuff, and I think it's better to focus on the specific, RPG-related issue for this forum.) [/QUOTE]

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