The simple filing of the civil suit costs the man $10 to $15K to hire a civil defense attorney, they are betting he has some kind of insurance that will protect him and will try and get a sympathy or trial avoidance payout.

Thats the game plan, sue him and see if his carrier pays....

On Soap box

It's how the civil rip off system works, first you send a threatening letter, then you sue, because letter never get you paid so it ups the pct to the attorney, then you file for information on the party you sues insurance carrier, then ask for a settlement conference.

Because the courts are clogged judges don't want to see these cases, its doubtful you will ever get time on the docket, and if you do, it's likely that you'll get a delay.

So it goes on and on, meaning lots of legal costs you end up with an arbiter (ie attorney that is retired) to discuss settlement, generally if you have insurance they do this well before anything else just because they know at x $ it's cheaper to just write the check.

Legal extortion.... and while there are few people who are wronged and justified with getting a civil judgement, the majority are the result of massive civil attorney advertising pushing the "for the people" mantra.

Civil tort reform needs to be addressed, right now the system is setup that you have to pay either way, an attorney to defend or payoff the attorney to go away....

Family law isn't any different, everyone hires attorneys, who use retired attorneys to arbitrate, all the while hoping you want to fight over anything, which runs up hourly fees

Odd are by design you will never get the time in front of a judge, ever, the judge wants you to come to an agreement and send him/her an agreement to stamp, sign and get off the docket/desk.

off soapbox...

It's kind of odd no one who thinks this guy will be sued into penury have discussed the concept of filing a countersuit. It's not usual for a criminal defendant to be sued for the same activity that got that defendant put on trial in criminal court - but OJ Simpson proved that it can happen in California.

"But the dirtbag doesn't have any money!"

No, he probably doesn't. But any award against him will offset any award against the Good Samaritan. At the same time, if the crud can be forced to pay restitution, then surely he can be forced to pay awarded damages.

And you're bumping a seven month old thread why?