if I can follow up because the comments of the gentleman from North Carolina are indeed impressive, is there something about, and this is what troubles me from my side, is there something about an attorney or an individual who misbehaves…

I do not know that it is more likely to deter frivolous suits, but I do think it is more fair in the sense that one dollar should not decide the difference between who gets attorney fees and who does not, and that is the effect of that…

I would agree it stimulates negotiation. Let me say that the concern I have is that the difference between the Michigan rule that the gentleman is articulating very accurately here and the bill, as it is currently drafted, is that under…

Yes. As a matter of fact, I do. This case comes from an article that George McGovern wrote about his experiences with a business that he started in Connecticut, a hotel. George McGovern, a couple of years ago, was quoted as saying, ``You…

This bill has been very grossly mischaracterized by the other side. The whole purpose of this provision is to promote reasonableness in bringing lawsuits, reasonableness in settling lawsuits, and will have the ultimate effect of seeing…

The bill provides a mechanism for calculating a reasonable value for those attorney fees if the case was brought on----

what I am neglecting to say here is that the American rule that is championed by some on the other side applies in that example that I just gave where the jury comes back with an award between $100,000 and $50,000. Neither party pays the…

He is only liable with the defense's legal fees to the extent that they do not exceed his own legal fees. He cannot pay any more than he pays his own lawyer.

In my opinion it is used very, very seldom because judges are former attorneys and they say, ``There but for the grace of God go I.'' They do not want to put an attorney under rule 11 sanctions in an embarrassing situation with their…

the reason that is in there is to limit the exposure of parties that may be lower-income parties because the converse is true as well. If the defendant prevails, the plaintiff cannot pay any more than he pays himself.

I think that it has a great deal of merit for the plaintiff as well, because the effect will be to say that if you indeed do have merit to your case, if you know that the defendant in this case is liable for a harm that has been caused to…

Mr. Chairman, this is, I believe, a very good model for handling the problem we have in this country with frivolous lawsuits, fraudulent lawsuits, and the fact that so many people are forced in the courts to defend cases that do not have…

It is a high percentage. The question is what percentage of cases we have in Federal courts now that can be removed from the court system if there is a penalty for bringing a frivolous or fraudulent case? If that indeed is 25 percent, that…

What I am saying is, if a defendant is brought into court in a nonmeritorious, frivolous or fraudulent lawsuit and has to defend that case, unless there are provisions that provide attorney's fees and that defendant, win or lose, that…

The gentleman's point is correct. The same thing is true of a defendant, whether that be an individual, regardless of their economic background, whether that be a small business person whose business could be lost, the bringing of the…

All of those things play a role in the case, and all of those things need to be taken into account, as they are taken into account right now when you look at determining whether or not you make a settlement offer in a case. The same thing…

I would leave that entirely to the discretion of the court. I think that in some circumstances, it might be appropriate to award attorney's fees regardless of those circumstances. In others, I feel that it might not. It is not my intention…

We have limited those attorney's fees so they can not exceed the amount the plaintiff is paying, or the defendant, if the defendant is the loser, cannot exceed the amount you are paying your own lawyer, so you cannot have a deep pocket…

It is the overload in the courts and the fact that a lot of those cases that were settled were settled for nominal sums of money where one party or the other feels the other party was not acting reasonably. This gives a defendant in a case…

I am also interested in finding ways to encourage more reasonableness in litigation and to encourage more settlement of cases. I think that is the intent of the amendment of the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Gekas], but quite…

Rule XI is on average applied in each district court system in this country, the Western District of Virginia, for example, where I practiced, very, very rarely, maybe once or twice or three times on average in a year out of all the cases…

Let me finish that point. They are correct that there are circumstances where a plaintiff in a case could get a judgment under these circumstances and wind up paying attorney fees for the defendant, but under the current bill, as it is…

The fact of the matter is he turned down a $100,000 settlement offer. His $300,000 last offer was four times what the jury finally gave him.

there are two objectives of this provision in the bill. One is to discourage the bringing of frivolous, fraudulent, and nonmeritorious claims. The other is to encourage settlement of cases. That is correct.

The gentleman is correct. While the idea underlying this has a good purpose of attempting to encourage settlement, it is an unfair situation to impose upon the parties to lawsuits because of the fact that it has many unintended…