Kevin Ford asks why we are not paying attention to the "frivolous defense" of valid lawsuits where the insurance paid attorney purposefully plays out the string of needless discovery etc. while all the while billing his client - big insurance company? Good question. Considering that I see cases zealously defended constantly where they should be settled, it's a pervasive and ongoing problem. Too many times, we see the defense lawyer, who gets paid by billing his time, insisting on going through discovery and pretrial procedure, for no other apparent reason than to make sure he makes his money on that particular case. Now, my insurance defense lawyer friends all deny that "churning the file" in this manner occurs in their practices, and I believe them. But there are a lot of others out there who must be churning cases that are going to be settled eventually anyway.