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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 9260153" data-attributes="member: 7023840">Not to get too technical (and to build on the same point made by [USER=19675]@Dannyalcatraz[/USER] below) ... but ....Legal fees and costs are not losses.I mean ... ugh. Look, this is litigation 101. Legal fees and costs are not, and cannot be, losses.* America follows (wait for it) the "American Rule." That means that each side pays their own legal fees (absent recovery by statute or contract). So, for example, imagine you're suing for defamation. You know, IMAGINE. Defamation is a common law tort. Since it's not a cause of action by statute or contract, there is no possibility of recovery of legal fees.**Finally, and most importantly, you cannot plead attorney's fees and costs to get over the amount in controversy for diversity jurisdiction in  federal court unless it provided for by statute or contract. If you are pleading (for example!) a bunch of common law torts ... libel, slander, IIED, and prima facie ... you haven't pled a single count that provides for the recovery of attorney's fees. Seriously, I need people to stop posting excerpts from the these filings because they aggravate me. *As always, any absolute statement in the law has exceptions, but they aren't worth going into.**Costs are another issue, but costs (such as court reporter fees and filing fees) are negligible.</blockquote>