Sanctioning Frivolous Suits: An Economic Analysis

An often-voiced concern in the United States is that there are too many frivolous lawsuits.' In this article we analyze the desirability of imposing sanctions on plaintiffs found to have filed frivolous suits. We also describe the optimal design of such sanctions, including the choice of their magnitude and whether to award them to defendants. Our interest in this topic was stimulated by the controversy surrounding Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides for the imposition of sanctions on individuals who present in court a "pleading, written motion, or other paper" that is deemed to be frivolous.2 Although