Deh!
If he was legally intoxicated at the time he ran over this guy I don't see how he can escape responsibility. What in the world is a 'pipe kit'? Some sort of super-charger that makes it more powerful? Presumably this could 'surprise' someone and make it more difficult to control properly. Unless this outing where he was drunk was the very first time he'd ridden the thing I don't see how that matters, but even if so I doubt it's enough to get him off the hook.
That's the
other incentive besides money for suing everyone for everything you can think of. You can at least claim in court that you are not responsible when you have claims against someone else. But when your claims fail to win the case, I think you are left with responsibility for your own actions.
Yes, there are sanctions for 'frivolous' lawsuits. The definition of 'frivolous' varies from state to state, but a lawyer who files to many stupid lawsuits can be accused of 'barratry' and subject to fines, suspension of license to practice law, or outright revocation of license to practice law. The problem is how difficult it is to get a state bar to decide that a lawsuit is 'over the top' these days.