There are also reasons to sue if just to make a point. Jesse Ventura sued Chris Kyle's estate. It was to prove that Chris Kyle lied. Even though he was dead, it was more about proving that he lied than recovering money.

I've been to court and hired a lawyer where the defendant had no ability to pay me back. This person laid a claim against me that would have hurt me professionally.

It was worth it to pay a lawyer to prove that this person was full of shit. I was awarded damages. I used to get checks(It was like $25 a month). If I stopped getting checks, I used to wonder "What happened to those checks?" and I'd make an inquiry and that person went to fucking jail for violating a court order.

For me, I just wanted court documentation that I didn't do what they said I did. I wanted it on the record that they were lying. The damages weren't something I thought about until I realized that this person was going to jail every time I mentioned I wasn't getting paid. I stopped asking after I realized that I was making a criminal complaint about someone violating a court order.