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"Litigation Often Takes a Toll on a Party's Mental Health on Both Sides of the 'v'"

"But the mental-health effects of litigation are, in a sense, the cost of doing business."

Eugene Volokh | 8.11.2026 8:01 AM

From Doe v. Simons, decided July 29 by Judge Nicholas Ranjan (W.D. Pa.):

Plaintiff John Doe has moved to proceed under a pseudonym. Doe advances three main bases for anonymity: his mental illness; that requiring him to litigate under his own name would deter him, and similarly situated individuals, from pursuing litigation; and that his HIPAA-protected medical records would become public….

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