lawsuits can be a form of legal blackmail. Silicon Valley firms are often sued when there’s been an unexpected change in stock price, on the theory that the company must have known about it and therefore is liable for failing to disclose the information. There might be no evidence to back up the charge, nor any suggestion of wrongdoing, but trial lawyers still sue in order to prod the defendant to settle rather than bear the enormous costs of producing documents on a motion for discovery.
