The Idaho Supreme Court has launched the state’s entire court system on a new track that might be called “loser pay” – you lose a case, you pay the other side’s attorney fees. No other state in the nation has gone this route, and the Supreme Court’s 3-2 ruling, issued this fall, has Idaho’s legal community in an uproar. “Being liable for the other party’s attorney fees, that could be a huge, huge reason not to bring a lawsuit,” said Shaakirrah Sanders, associate professor of law at the University of Idaho. In particular, she said, it would make small businesses or individuals less likely to sue deep-pocketed large businesses. Justice Roger Burdick, in his dissent, said the ruling would inhibit access to justice and “tilt the table even further toward moneyed interests in our courts”/Betsy Russell, SR. More here.

Question: Is this system fair?