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AI The Courts Technology

New App Lets You 'Sue Anyone By Pressing a Button' (vice.com) 105

Posted by msmash from the marvels-of-AI dept.
Jason Koebler writes: Do Not Pay, a free service that launched in the iOS App store today, uses artificial intelligence to help people win up to $25,000 in small claims court. It's the latest project from 21-year-old Stanford senior Joshua Browder, whose service previously allowed people to fight parking tickets or sue Equifax; now, the app has streamlined the process. It's the "first ever service to sue anyone (in all 3,000 counties in 50 states) by pressing a button."
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New App Lets You 'Sue Anyone By Pressing a Button' More

New App Lets You 'Sue Anyone By Pressing a Button'

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  • The Sovereign Citizen movement is going to love this.

    • Re:I'm sure this won't be abused (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Gilgaron ( 575091 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:27AM (#57456010)
      I suppose the pay version of the app will let you respond to dismiss the suit with prejudice. Or multiple tiers of payment level that get you access to better written boilerplate so you can beat the app users on the lower tiers... I guess that's basically how the legal system works anyhow.
      • with the way arbitration has been enshrined in law (and upheld by our Supreme Court in clear defiance to due process protections in the constitution thanks to a pro-corporate SCOTUS) it doesn't help much. I guess you can sue random Joes but that's generally pretty worthless unless you're a big company looking to suppress something, and in that case what use do you have for an app? You've got lawyers on retainer.

    • Re:I'm sure this won't be abused (Score:5, Funny)

      by Drethon ( 1445051 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:52AM (#57456144)

      The Sovereign Citizen movement is going to love this.

      Can I use the app to sue the app?

      • Yes, but then the app can sue you, or at least sue your app, leading your app to sue their app in an appy loop of appy app apps.

        Apps!

        Perhaps the whole legal system will devolve into some kind of app-based card trading game, or if someone sues you, you can send Charmander in to court to fight for you.

        • Depending on who's involved, I might pay a few dollars to watch Charmander have a go at them. Maybe that can be the new basis upon which lawsuits are settled, a portion of the pay-per-view earnings. I'm not sure if this pushes us toward Mad Max or more towards Idiocracy, lately I feel as if I'm living in both worlds.

        • Yes, but then the app can sue you, or at least sue your app, leading your app to sue their app in an appy loop of appy app apps.

          Apps!

          Perhaps the whole legal system will devolve into some kind of app-based card trading game, or if someone sues you, you can send Charmander in to court to fight for you.

          Maybe we can create a recursive loop that will destroy the whole law suit system!

      • I have a neighbour called Susan, who's a native American sous chef. Can I use the app to sue Sue? As she's a Sioux, would I then sue Sue the Sioux? Its over her cooking, so I'd be sueing Sue the Sioux over being a sous.

    • Will there be a counter app to defend yourself from a Law Suit.
      A key part of the Justice System is the Idea of Justice, not just blindly following the laws, which I feel today has sadly been ignored.
      A law could say you could be fined so much for a violation of a law, however justice needs to take a look on why the law was violated and if it is just to be punished for the violation of the law or at the said amount.

      However in today society too much of the revenue for the government is from fines, and they are

    • Sovereign Citizen movement

      I had to look that up. Now I have a bruise on my forehead from *facepalm*ing so hard. There are actually people in this country who believe that nonsense? Do they actually believe, for instance, that they can get away with murdering someone, so long as they have a 'justification' for it?

      • You need to search for them on YouTube. Instead of facepalming you'll be laughing your ass off.

      • These people live for the moment they can convince a judge they have the right to walk on US soil without being bound to any state or federal law. In their fantasies, they come up with such a carefully worded defense that a judge throws his hands up in the air and says "this guy got us, the state cannot use their monopoly of force to collect the taxes that pay my salary as a judge, shut the whole thing down!".

        • I mean, it is a conflict of interest. Kind of like how insurance companies try really hard to avoid paying out claims.

          • Well duh. What makes those people think that the government, and by that I mean any of the 3 branches, will relinquish the power they spend billions every year to maintain? Even if they manage to find some hole in the law, which in itself is pretty unlikely because the legislative branch has made sure this part of the law is airtight, the law cannot be "hacked" like code can because judges are not robots and they will never set a precedent of "sovereigns", "footles" (freemen on the land - FOTL) and whatnot

  • Time to incorporate (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rickb928 ( 945187 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:26AM (#57455996) Homepage Journal

    Own nothing.

    Control everything.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      We had this in the UK for maybe two decades now, although the Small Claims Court goes back further. You submit a simple online form and pay the fee (last time I checked it was £30, which the other party pays if you win).

      You can use it to claim money from anyone or any organization for any reason. It's largely risk free, you don't need a lawyer (the judges are generally sympathetic and they keep the procedural stuff to a minimum) and if you lose you don't normally have to pay the other party's co

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:26AM (#57456000)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:With great power... (Score:5, Funny)

      by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:34AM (#57456048) Homepage Journal
      Actually you need to fill in the details, then it fills out and downloads a form for you, then you need to print it out, then you need to submit it to the courthouse, then you need to appear in court. But the downloading step requires you to push a button. The AI does the rest. Except for the filling in the details, downloading, printing out the form, submitting to the courthouse and appearing in the courthouse. The AI does pre fill out the form for you though. Pretty amazing stuff.

      • Re:With great power... (Score:5, Informative)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:45AM (#57456106) Journal

        So its basically TruboTax for small claims cases. 1993 called and they'd like their definition of amazing back.

        • Completely different. It uses IBM Watson to fill out the form for you. And that is AI, as well all know. TurboTax just uses regular old boring programming to fill out forms.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by DarkOx ( 621550 )

            Oh good so in other words you $30 investment in Turbo Tax means the fields are at least correctly mapped from the interview to the form; and verified by humans. Meanwhile with this a computer that does not really "understand" has done it and it might be mostly right most of the time if you are luck. Oh well you get what you pay for I guess

      • then you need to print it out, then you need to submit it to the courthouse, then you need to appear in court.

        Unfortunately for everyone on the end of a frivolous suit made even easier by this, they have to appear in court too.

      • So you are saying that their is still time to apply for a patent for a single click litigation application?

  • I just tried to download it (I am thinking of suing people). Unfortunately my iPhone is a 4s and it needs iOS 11.0. How can I sue anyone if I can't even afford to upgrade my 4s? Truly the system is stacked against people like me.

  • it's a litte more than just push a button (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    you have to feed in all sorts of details and mail the documents to the appropriate place and you may end up being called to court... but with the push of a button it seems anyone can start the process

    • "you have to feed in all sorts of details and mail the documents to the appropriate place and you may end up being called to court... but with the push of a button it seems anyone can start the process"

      It begins...

      Soon millions of lawyers will die from hunger. Can't wait.

      • No the number of frivolous claims will go up and they will probably make more defending the people who have frivolous claims filed against them using the app.

      • Indeed it does begin.
        The court system is already overburdened by frivolous lawsuits, in a year or two you perhaps won't be able to get a court date within your lifetime.

        Unfortunately instead of starving liars....err,...lawyers I fear it may cause a population explosion of lawyers.
        Multi generational lawsuits anyone?
  • ... to sue Ben Affleck [wikia.com] . I think my rights might still not be fully realized.

  • Was this really needed? (Score:3)

    by anegg ( 1390659 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:40AM (#57456088)

    Does the United States really need a service that makes suing people easier? Automation that removes "natural" limits of process rates (like the time/effort to file a suit) often cause disruption in other parts of the system that haven't evolved to handle the load that can be presented once the "natural" limit is removed. Or perhaps this was the intent?

    • It isn't really for suing. It is for challenging tickets, etc in small claims court by pre-filling out forms for you. The app developer is good at marketing though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      Perhaps it will finally force a needed change. Once a suit is filed, but before the defendant gets involved, a judge should determine if the suit has any merit on it's face. If not, the suit is squashed and the would-be defendant just gets a letter telling them who tried to sue them and for what.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's a fine balance between not wanting frivolous lawsuits flying all over the place and the fact that some companies rely on people not suing them as part of their business model. Parking fines are a good example, often they are bogus but many people just pay up because they don't know they can just file a lawsuit and it will magically go away.

  • I wonder if there will be counter-sue for barrarty feature.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by chill ( 34294 )

      Isn't that covered under insurance fraud?

      Barratry: fraud or gross negligence of a ship's master or crew at the expense of its owners or users.

  • While I really admire their parking ticket and flight refund finder....I'm not so high on this one.

    Yes, because the ability to sue people at the press of an app button is what our legal system needed.

  • This is the App for me. (Score:4)

    by commodore64_love ( 1445365 ) on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @11:52AM (#57456146) Journal

    I'm so tired of businesses thinking they can screw-over customers & get away with it. I'd also like to sue the telemarketer that keeps calling my cellphone every day, even though I told them "Put me on you Do Not Call list". Per US Law if they continue calling, then they can be fined in small claims.

  • Forgot to mention block chain! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Will not use.

  • - Team America: World Police
    I couldn't help but hear this as soon as i read the title
  • To sue someone, you must serve them with the court papers to let them know you are suing them. Does it hire someone for you?
  • I filed against my former landlord for keeping my deposit without a walk through, violating both the lease and local rental law. I was awarded the value of the deposit, plus 200% by the judge. Since this scofflaw has decided to ignore the court's judgement, I have to serve him again before I can get any discovery of his bank accounts or place a lien on his property. He's had a fence built so process servers can't get to his front door without trespassing. Next step, the servers want to charge me $125/ho
    • I feel dirty just for saying this, but couldn't you sell the debt to some scumbag collection agency? That way you at least get the price of a burger and fries and he gets years of amusing phone calls.

    • If you can show you have made attempts to serve the person and their location is unknown you could do it through a Posting or Publication depending on your State's laws.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Unless it's in the same sense that a typewriter lets you "sue anyone" by pushing buttons:

    After that, Do Not Pay draws up documents specific to that legal area, and fills in the specific details. Just print it out, mail it to the courthouse

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