[roel_v]

Do you feel the online aspect of such a procedure would make things materially cheaper? In other words, are the costs really in the time spend in court, or is it maybe that preparations for oral arguments are much more expensive?

I'm asking because my experiences with Dutch law are very different from what you describe (I have a law degree but I do not practice). Pretty much all civil procedures are done in writing here, and it's quite possible to go through a whole case for (much) less than USD10k (even when hourly rates are > USD200).

Of course, a case about an unpaid utility bill is very different from the example the GP gave, if an elderly patient gets hurt in a retirement home. In such cases you might need days or weeks of expert witness time @ 1 or 2 k per day. But that wouldn't be cheaper if the proceeding were done electronically.