Supporters of the "loser pays" rule believe it discourages frivolous lawsuits.

The 1986 law, designed to discourage lawsuits, initially gave a 60 percent share to the state and was amended last year to provide 35 percent.

She also said that the modifications in the latest version were less important than the fact that the thrust of the legislation was to discourage lawsuits.

Such a restriction, he said, discourages lawsuits against individual directors by those shareholders who may be upset with board decisions.

They created an extralegal court and discouraged lawsuits for debt collection and foreclosures.

The Senate, more moderate, balked at a sweeping approach to discouraging civil lawsuits.

Reducing insurance rates by discouraging frivolous lawsuits is a perfectly sound idea.

In the Tokugawa period, from 1603 to 1867, for example, authorities severely discouraged lawsuits.

A common theme among them, however, is that Congress should do something to discourage frivolous lawsuits to make American businesses more competitive.