The firm generally used the lawsuits to extract settlements of a few thousand dollars, but DiBiase refused to settle up.

According to a Forbes report, Kramer's Altitude has in the past funded efforts to extract large settlements from the likes of Microsoft, RIM, and eBay over patent disputes.

And nobody gets hurt, nobody but the injured and even mortally ill tort clients who might otherwise have extracted decent settlements from the big corporate clients that Clay is secretly representing.

But enough horror stories about frivolous lawsuits aimed more at extracting big settlements than proving malfeasance have made the rounds that many lawmakers are convinced something needs to be done to curb the practice.

Ms. Schieffelin and the other plaintiffs, whose number is not yet known, could then use that finding to extract large settlements or monetary awards from juries or mediators who hear their individual complaints.

Cases can't simply drag on indefinitely without defendants being named just so that lawyers can use the courts to extract settlements.

Extracting settlements in these cases, an appeals court judge wrote last year, is "absurdly easy."

Some lawyers have responded by blanketing small businesses with notices of violations and extracting quick settlements.

While these claims are not definitively resolved (i.e., by any judicial ruling on the merits), Choudhury has extracted legal settlements from a number of yoga teachers and studios.

This is a common problem for Righthaven, and the firm continues to get hit with fee awards over its strategy in an attempt to extract settlements from small-time infringement claims.