There's an important qualifier: loser pays reasonable costs of prevailing party, and the judge decides what is reasonable. It's not automatic. This addresses the concerns about a deep-pocketed party spending lavishly and winning, and the loser being forced to pay a massive legal bill.
(I'm not an expert on the subject, but it's been discussed before on HN, and this is my recollection.)
It occurs to me that an interesting variation would be for the loser to pay an amount equal to the lesser of the two parties' legal bills. That would limit the risk, and remove the incentive for the deeper-pocketed party to spend money just to inflate the bill.
I am small troll A suing company B. I lose, judge orders that troll A pay all the legal fees. I don't have the money, I file bankruptcy, I flee the country.
Lawyers still want to get paid. I doubt any legal team will just chase some random around into collections because "loser pays"
>>There's an important qualifier: loser pays reasonable costs of prevailing party,
I remember a comment a while back on HN or somewhere which suggested an approximate solution to this : the loser must pay the costs equal to its or the winners fees- whichever is lower.
(I'm not an expert on the subject, but it's been discussed before on HN, and this is my recollection.)
It occurs to me that an interesting variation would be for the loser to pay an amount equal to the lesser of the two parties' legal bills. That would limit the risk, and remove the incentive for the deeper-pocketed party to spend money just to inflate the bill.