Litigation Strategy and Case Evaluation
Strategy and Planning
The approach maximizes procedural friction through voluminous discovery, extensive motion practice, and refusal to narrow issues. It aims at attrition rather than resolution on the merits.
Courts sanction the approach where it crosses into abuse.
Alternative Names:
Scorched Earth|Attrition Litigation
Why it Matters?
The approach increasingly backfires as courts have become less tolerant, imposing sanctions, fee awards, and adverse rulings on parties whose conduct obstructs rather than advances resolution. Judicial impatience also affects rulings on close questions where the court's assessment of a party's good faith influences discretionary decisions. Cost also runs both directions, since attrition strategies consume the deploying party's resources substantially.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Why does the approach backfire?
Who bears the cost?
