Frivolous pleadings and claims increase the costs of litigation for all the parties involved in addition to escalating the cost of our judicial system. House Bill 86 also provides that if a party makes an intentional, false statement of material fact, the court shall dismiss the claim to which the false claim relates. Attorneys, as well as their clients, will be required to research their claims to assure they are factually supported before filing a lawsuit. Those extraneous pleadings are expensive for innocent parties to litigate and work through and are most often thrown out. They simply cause one party, and the court system, to expend significant dollars to pare down to real issues.
Many suits are often less expensive to settle than to litigate, regardless of their merit.
This bill does not affect suits filed in good faith. It will, however, deter those without merit. A system allowing deceit to be rewarded because it is more costly to litigate than to capitulate must be changed. Continues a claim or defense after determining the claim or defense does not have a reasonable basis in fact and law The basic purpose of HB 86 is to preclude bad faith litigation by providing meaningful sanctions likely to be enforced if such conduct occurs, and at the same time provide effective remedies to parties who are injured by such conduct. Those who are trying to tell the truth will have nothing to fear from this provision, as it would only apply if the trier of fact finds a party has made an intentional , false statement of material fact .