From the Desk of Lenden Webb
A Revised Video-to-Audio Transcription
Many clients come to my office and they have a stack of papers from a letter-writing campaign between their prior counsel and another attorney or the other side where they say “nothing came of this.” The client spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars and all that happened is they (the attorneys) wrote letters back-and-forth, and maybe there’s an agreement reached, but everything fell through.
To me, the saddest thing about that situation is that there was no lawsuit filed. If there’s a lawsuit filed with the backstop of litigation and with the thundering cloud of a trial moving and advancing steadily forward, settlement is a beautiful thing because settlement, with that backstop of litigation in place and with the case number in hand, any settlement that’s reached has the force as if a judge or a jury decided it.
Without that case number, without the lawsuit, without a filled complaint, you have nothing more than a breach of another agreement. Then you’d still have to go into the lawsuit, into the discovery, the deposition, the trial – everything that cost so much and gives attorneys a bad name as far as the expenses go.
So what I suggest is a shoot first and ask questions later approach. We already know that by the time you as a client are in our office, the problem is not resolvable on a client-to-opposing party level and that an attorney is necessary.
So for the $435 of hard costs to file with the state court, with a $70 that most processor servers take to do up to 3 attempts at service of the summons and complaint, and the amount of monies to have an attorney spend a couple of hours drafting a complaint and getting all the other accouterments of documents that need to be filed, that’s the best way to start your litigation.
At that point, you have something that if you reach a settlement agreement and you propound discovery along with a demand letter for settlement, even if there are payment plans involved, right at the inception, instead of the defendant lawyering up, oftentimes you can encourage them to enter into a settlement or a payment plan or the terms that are sensible & logical which make sense for all parties involved. That’s just one example of what we do to manage litigation costs.
Key Points:
- “Settlement is a beautiful thing.” It requires a lawsuit to be filed.
- Without a lawsuit, you have nothing more than a breach of the agreement.
- “Shoot first, ask questions later.” Take action.
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Webb Law Group is a reputable business and liability litigation firm with experience in matters involving California law. Having a reputable attorney by your side for these matters will offer you the best possible chance of your case arriving at a positive outcome.
If you feel you need legal representation in California, Webb Law Group would be happy to review your case and provide consultation and support where necessary. For questions, or to schedule a consultation, contact Webb Law Group today at 559-431-4888 (Fresno) or 619-399-7700 (San Diego).
