David Boies wants to make trials cheaper - but that isn't the game

Now-iconic attorney David Boies wants to make trials cheaper.  He outlined how, reports Kate Moser in THE RECORDER, at a lunch at the Lawyers' Club of San Francisco.  The recommendations include, says Moser, to "pare cases down to the their essentials early on, and that limits on discovery and on the time allowed before a case goes to trial would save time and money for the justice system."

But that isn't the game.  The game is to make a trial such an expensive and reputation-damaging ordeal that the defendant will have plenty of incentive to settle before the litigation goes to trial.  That was what the Tobacco settlement was all about.  And that was what the plaintiffs in the lead paint public nuisance litigation seemed to aim for. 

Their hopes were dashed when the lead paint defendants, ranging from Sherwin-Williams to ARCO, adopted the strategy of fighting.  One wonders if they will continue with that strategy if the Santa Clara, California class action suit does go to trial. A lot of that depends on the California Supreme Court ruling on contingency.  The oral arguments are scheduled for May 5th.