Fee-shifting
A rule or statute making the losing party pay the prevailing party's attorney's fees.
Under the "American Rule," each party normally bears its own attorney's fees. Fee-shifting is the exception: a statute (such as 42 U.S.C. § 1988 in civil-rights cases) or a contract provision shifts the prevailing party's reasonable fees to the loser. Fee-shifting changes the economics of small but meritorious claims and is central to many consumer, civil-rights, and employment statutes.