Is it also ridiculous that a school nurse is paid for by the school/government? After all, shouldn’t the parent of the kid pay for each visit to the nurse – and if ots not worth it to them to pay, its not worth it to society?
These courts are in the public best interest. If you don’t have salaried judges, you have in effect established a threshhold for “kosher” theft, up to the point where the claim is worth more than the court costs. Court fees now are so low that this threshhold is irrelevant.
Well, here’s what I’m concerned about.
Suppose A injures B, and there is questionable liability. The injury is 100 dollars.
A can spend 30 dollars on legal fees, and think he will win with probability of 80%.
B can spend 25 on legal fees, and will think he has only a 20% chance of losing.
So A will sue, because he is spending 30 for .8(100), for a gain of 50
B will defend, because he is spending 25 also for a .8(100) for a expected savings of 55.
They will not settle, because A’s expected gains are 70, so he will need to receive at least 70 to settle. While B’s expected losses are 25+.2(100)=45, so B will refuse to pay more than 45.
Now suppose the court also has costs of 30. So the total costs on society to litigate this suit are 30+25+30=85. And the plaintiff only expects to get .8(100) from the suit.
So isn’t it a waste of society’s resources for them to fight this suit? The plaintiff expects to get less money from the suit than they are spending to get it. It is like planting corn for 85 dollars for an 80% chance of getting 100! Why should society want this to happen?
However, if the parties will bear all the costs, then they will only litigate when there is more value in the suit than it costs, which will not waste societal assets.
So in our case, suppose the plaintiff has to pay all the court costs. So his legal fees are 30+30=60, and his expected gain is only 20. Meanwhile, defendant’s legal fees are 25 for an expected loss of 45. So defendant will pay plaintiff some amount between 20 and 45, and everyone will be happy, and no social resources are wasted. This is like planting corn at cost of nothing and reaping between 20 and 45! Doesn’t that sound like a better world to live in?