Lawsuits, even liability and personal injury lawsuits, can be very expensive. Not every lawyer takes a case on a percentage of settlement/judgment basis. If it's a case they're unsure about, the law firm representing the town may have required the town to pay for the expenses the firm incurred to try the case. Even if the law firm took no fee, the expenses for consultants, expert witnesses, exhibits, etc. can run from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Gardner, Indiana did not look to be a very big town. It is plausible that the town thought they had an open and shut case, possibly even a key witness like the trial in the movie, and were willing to spend the money, confident they'd win. Enter Fitch who steals the case (something Marley and Nick allude to at the end when Fitch says the town really thought they had that one and Nick says they did). Thus the small town is in debt for money they don't have and ends up bankrupt. It can happen. I'm familiar with real cases where the lawyers required the plaintiff to agree to pay for expenses, even if they lost, and it can get very expense very fast. See the movie "A Civil Action" which is also based on a book and true story. The law firm and the lawyers went bankrupt on all the money they spent trying the case even though they settled for millions of dollars.
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