Litigation as a Predatory Practice

Today's hearing examines a different aspect of America's lawsuit problem, the strategic abuse of litigation system as an anti-competitive tactic. Precisely because our civil justice system is so expensive and tolerant of tenuous claims, litigation can be a deadly weapon in the hands of a cartel or an aspiring monopolist. Litigation can be used to drive up a competitor's costs, to gain access to a competitor's otherwise confidential information, and to divert a competitor's resources away from offering competitive goods and services.