What so many frustrated observers don’t understand is that “facts” as laypersons understand them mean nothing to a court. This can be a good thing, for instance, if the townspeople considered it “fact” that the sun revolved around the earth – and wanted a scientist put to death for saying otherwise. But too often, it’s a bad thing, as this case shows. Lidle’s estate could very easily find an “expert” to dispute the government.

Once again, litigation abuse is rooted not so much in the process – which is laborious, wasteful, expensive and counterintuitive by design – but in the immoral and anti-social motivations of litigants. That’s why, while I would welcome some procedure reform, I think that lawsuit abuse ultimately requires “soul reform” that our current society isn’t capable of. Where it’s every man for himself, nobody cares about the expense saddled on others. Lawsuit abuse is indicative of larger patterns of social decay.