I had a friend try to sue a company. It turns out it has sizable out of pocket costs, the lawyer fees are steep, and you aren’t compensated for the time you have to spend on the case, even if you win. But the worst part is, most issues you can sue over, the most you can recoup is what you can prove as damages. So if a company literally steals $500 from you, that is all you can recoup after dealing with all of the hassles of the lawsuit, chance of losing and being out thousands of dollars in costs, the time (years usually), etc. And if you settle, those proceeds are also income taxed.

If anything, there should be more lawsuits against companies and they should be punished punitively.

It seems more reasonable to me, and with a roughly equal amount of evidence, that lawsuit culture was created by a mixture of media sensationalizing a couple of lawsuits and lawyers capitalizing on the fear.