A motion costs the side that files it far less than it costs the side that has to answer it.
The math of a motion
Defense counsel bills by the hour. When a defendant files a motion to dismiss, the hours spent writing it are paid. On the plaintiff’s side, a contingency firm is paid when the case resolves, and only if it resolves well. The hours spent answering that motion are an investment the firm makes out of its own time.
That difference drives attrition. A defendant with resources can file motion after motion, and each one moves hours from the plaintiff firm’s other cases into this one. The goal is not always to win the motion. The goal is to make the case expensive to keep.
What changes when the hours collapse
Attrition works only while each new motion consumes the firm’s hours. Agentic litigation removes most of the human work from the response: the reading, the research, the outline, the draft, the revisions, the citation checks. What remains for the lawyer is review and decision. That is hours, not days.
When a motion no longer reliably costs the plaintiff firm days of work, it stops working as a way to wear the firm down. More cases get decided on their merits, and fewer get decided by who can afford to keep answering.
What it does not change
The lawyer still reads the draft, still decides what to argue, and still signs. Agentic litigation changes the cost of the work, not who is responsible for it.