sqwkvfr
Baseball junkie
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2003
- Posts
- 1,673
Vector4fun said:Let me state up front that I agree something needs to be done to limit frivolous lawsuits. No Question.
But before everyone starts signing petitions, think about this situation:
You've been shafted to the tune of oh, say $5000 by a large company.
Said company has a staff of lawyers on retainer and/or in house.
Said company has no intention of going to arbitration to settle the matter cheaply.
Said company has Political ties to a Judge in the case.
Said company would prefer to delay trial as long as possible, using every legal manuver possible to make a trial as expensive as possible, thereby intimidating anyone else from filing a similar lawsuit.
How much would you be willing to spend to get your $5k back? Would you risk $20K? $30K? More? Do you know what it costs to hire a couple top-notch lawyers and suffer through a two year discovery period, followed by a week long trial in State Court?
I do, and it costs substantially more than $30K. The Company involved spent more than $135K defending it's self against a $5K lawsuit when the other party was perfectly willing to go to arbitration to begin with. Do you understand the message the Company was trying to send?
(The Company eventually lost btw, and was denied further appeal. The merits of the $5k Judgement plus attorny's fees were upheld. No other damages were sought or ordered.)
Change the laws, but be very careful what you wish for. You might just get it.
...Sounds like a good candidate for a reformed small claims court.