I got the impression from the article that he is willing to go that far. Question, what is the $15-$20k being spent on? There are court fees, but does that include billing hours or something more? And are the court fees really that high?
It's billable time and costs, like research. It wouldn't be paying any court fees for this, at least not right away. I'm guessing a $250/hr associate and a $500/hr partner. Depending on the market, those numbers could be a lot higher. If he gets a small shop to do the work, the numbers could be lower.
The trouble is, though, that $15-20k is the tip of the iceberg as far as litigation goes. Remember, this is just one piece of the litigation--even if he wins this, he's still got a long road to hoe.
I really don't know who's right in this fight; maybe Monster does try and intimidate its competitors out of business and that would certainly suck. However, on the other hand, I feel like this guy is definitely blowing a lot of hot air, and as I said before, it's easy to spend money when it's someone else's checkbook.