Legal Question in Personal Injury in New York

The courts normally shy away from punishing any entity for initiating a lawsuit where there is some semblence of viability to the cause of action or new and novel arguments for extending and stretching existing laws and interpretations.

Unless the action was instituted in bad faith under the guise of truth or is an outright fraud, the courts will neither impose sanctions nor attorneys fees on the plaintiff for initiation of a what may ultimately be interpreted as a baseless action. One should be reminded, however, that the Federal Court's threshold in interpreting the viability of an action and attorney's duties of due diligence before initiating an action is far more stringent than State Courts and are far more willing in imposing sanctions and attorney's fees when "they smell a rat".

Generally not, though a winning defendant may file and collect on a bill of costs. Best, M. E. Zuller