I wonder if this makes court cases a pretty high stakes game for even the smallest of issues? Interesting concept all the same.

At least in Finland it still makes things quite ugly from cost perspective. It is not uncommon to read about cases where costs are in tens of thousand for real-estate. Probably one of the more common things to take in court.

> I wonder if this makes court cases a pretty high stakes game

Stay away from courts! If your case goes before a judge, you're in casino country. Unless you're on the hook for some criminal offence, tell your lawyer to negotiate a settlement. Once a civil case comes before a judge, that usually means that there's a legal issue to be decided that nobody agrees on, which means that you can't predict how the cookie might crumble.

The loser doesn't always pay for both. In some cases (well, many actually), or at least in cases where party A sues party B and loses, the court decides that it wasn't all clear-cut and party A was right to get a resolution through the court system. In that case both may end up paying their respective legal bills.