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- - i ~ <br />considered. the supreme court has indicated that the more <br />important consideration is payment for time necessarily <br />expended, no matter what the complexity. or merit, of the <br />case might be. In Mau v_.__E.P.H._Core.. suers, 638 P.2d <br />777, which involved fees in a landlord-tenant security deposit <br />dispute, the court made the fcllowing observation: <br />Security deposit cases are not as com- <br />plex as civil richts litigation, nor <br />do they have the same broad social pur- <br />pose. Nevertheless the general assem- <br />bly has provided a court remedy against <br />landlords who withheld security depos- <br />its willfully and wrongfully. and the <br />tenant's attorney should be paid for <br />the time necessary to prevail. <br />Ig. at 7(i0. <br />If anything, frivolous litigation demands the most. <br />not the least, by way of defense, precisely because it is <br />so expensive. disruptive of state agencies' operations. and <br />unrewarding for the agencies in any monetary sense. It <br />must be made known that all lawsuits will be vigorcusly <br />defended and none will be handled cavalierly. so that any <br />potential plaintiff whose primary purpcse is harassment in <br />the hope of ultimate escape will realize that groundless law- <br />suits will cost more than they could be worth.l/ <br />The second important fact ignored by plaintiffs is <br />that the time necessarily expended on the litigation was a <br />direct consequence of the manner in which plaintiffs cen- <br />-5- <br />