I sold my house just before the housing market fell. Three years later, when many people's homes were no longer worth what they paid for them, the woman that bought my house (at fair market value for that time) sued me for $1,000,000 because she was now selling, and she couldn't get her asking price. A lawyer took her case, and a judge (who is a former lawyer, of course) agreed to hear the case. I was out $10,000 before the owner dropped the case because it had dragged on for over a year. Who got rich? The lawyers.