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Home » Article » LA Probate Law: How to Determine if You Should Pursue a Legal Case?

LA Probate Law: How to Determine if You Should Pursue a Legal Case?

November 8, 2015Article

LA Probate Law: How to Determine if You Should Pursue a Legal Case?

 

There are many reasons why people litigate. That is the question in many cases. There are several factors that go into making these decisions. Of course, these factors vary with the circumstances of the particular case states LA Probate Law. To determine whether or not you should pursue a legal case, you should ask yourself the following questions: 1. What are my damages? 2. Can I collect from the defendant if I win the case? 3. How much am I willing to risk? 4. Am I pursuing the case for a reason other than economic recovery or damage control? If the answer to this is yes, it is very unlikely that your case will settle. 5. Will the lawsuit prevent further damage or create more damage? 6. Am I willing to deal with the emotional ups and downs of litigation for a few years? Go through the above questions yourself first.

Considerations

Costs in litigation start out small – attorney’s fees, fees for filing a Complaint, and service of process fees. They tend to explode as litigation continues – especially in cases set for Trial. These costs include Attorney’s Fees for filing papers, propounding and responding to Discovery Requests, copying costs, expert witness fees, and other expenses along the way. Constant evaluation should be done, as above, to determine if and how litigation should proceed. LA Probate Law would not want to continue the 50/50 case above if the case proved impossible to win. At that point, we would want to get out of the case in the most effective manner. We often hear that Americans are “suit happy”. While there may be some frivolous lawsuits out there, we believe that the vast majority of cases (especially those properly evaluated) are filed for legitimate reasons when Parties cannot settle a matter outside of the Court system. Nonetheless, sometimes litigation is necessary to right a wrong, and, whatever faults people may find with the country’s current system of justice, history shows it to be the best manner for resolving disputes that cannot be resolved in any other way.  Because the term “litigation” encompasses all forms of court actions from capital murder to small claims court, this post will focus primarily on cost/benefit analysis for a standard civil matter.  Keep in mind, though, that every case is different, and no hard and fast rules exist for how much something will cost to litigate.  Many variables go into the equation such as the experience of the attorney, the complexity of the issue and the area of the country in which the matter will be litigated (attorneys in larger cities charge more per hour than attorneys in small towns).


Talk Settlement

The reason is that trials can be quite expensive.  Avid watchers of legal dramas often have the misconception that the time between the filing of the complaint and the trial is only a few weeks or perhaps a month.  The reality is, however, that it usually takes at least a year from the time the action commences until it goes to trial.  During this time, the attorneys for the parties engage in discovery, which involves gathering and reviewing documents, taking depositions of witnesses and drafting and responding to a variety of motions.  Depending upon the complexity of the issue, the number of parties involved and the number of lawyers involved, attorneys can spend upwards of 100 hours on a case from start to finish on cases of moderate complexity. In performing the cost/benefit analysis of whether or not to go to trial, realize that it is highly unlikely that the plaintiff will get the full amount of the claim.  If the opposing party is willing to hire counsel and go to trial, it probably has good defenses to the claim that can lower the award says LA Probate Law.  Also, in a breach of contract claim, probably one of the most common actions, a court cannot give punitive damages as contract law deems such an award to be a penalty and does not allow it.  The most the party can expect to collect is the value of the contract. 

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Because of the cost of going to trial, the field of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) has increased in popularity.  Mediation is the most common form of ADR, and one that courts have the power to order parties to undergo.  In a typical mediation, parties go to separate rooms, and a mediator will go back and forth, get each party’s perspective and then try to find some common ground.  The mediator must keep everything said by either party in strict confidence, and mediation is not binding on any party.  Mediation can be beneficial because it provides a neutral, third-party assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the case.  Also, a good mediator can cut through the emotions that often surround litigation.  LA Probate Law gives an example; a plaintiff may be quite upset with the defendant for a variety of reasons.  Perhaps the two were business partners and had a bad split; perhaps the defendant is a supplier who failed to make a timely delivery and cost the plaintiff a job.  The mediator can often temper the emotional components and help the parties to understand that “winning” in a court of law, although it would provide vindication, may not be financially prudent if some common ground can be located.

LA Probate Law: How to Determine if You Should Pursue a Legal Case?

 

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Scott Schomer, Estate Planning Attorney
Scott Schomer, Estate Planning Attorney
A graduate of Boston University School of Law, Scott P. Schomer is a frequent lecturer on estate planning and elder law issues, having discussed these important issues on local and national television. A seasoned courtroom advocate, Scott has obtained combined judgments and verdicts in excess of twenty-five million dollars for his clients. Scott has served as a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court Probate Volunteer Panel (PVP Attorney), Probate Settlement Panel and a Judge Pro Tempore. Scott's expertise has been recognized by his peers with such accolades as a life-time membership in the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, the Five Star Wealth Manager designation, and repeated nominations as California Super Lawyer.
Scott Schomer, Estate Planning Attorney
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