Last week, the Missouri Legislature introduced a bill that would implement the so-called “loser pays” English Rule and undo centuries of jurisprudence under the American Rule in civil litigation.  But the one-page “loser pays” bill is no English Rule at all.  The bill is a one-way fee-shifting rule that applies only one party, not both parties.

The legislation, H.B. 1342 (pdf),would only apply to non-prevailing (i.e. losing) plaintiffs, not to non-prevailing (i.e. losing) defendants.  In other words, only plaintiffs would be forced to pay the attorney fees of defendants, if they don’t prevail in underlying civil litigation.  The bill would not require losing defendants to pay the attorney fees of prevailing plaintiffs.  “It’s not fair to implement a one-way fee-shifting provision to apply only to one party,” said Terry Jesse, Executive Director of NALFA