VIDEO: The Top 8 Ways to Know When It’s GO TIME: #3 When The Worst-Case Scenario Really Isn’t THAT Bad
Mar24,2016
Shai Harary
Litigation, which is something I always argue shouldn’t be pursued lightly, can be a powerful tool to wield under certain specific circumstances.
I’ve already discussed how when there’s enough at stake or when the other side is ignoring you, moving toward litigation makes a lot of sense.
The third scenario is actually about, well, scenarios.
When the other side has some expectations that are terribly out of wack with what you assess to be the worst-case scenario, then you don’t have anything to lose by taking legal action.
How, then, do you assess the situation? Let’s take for example a dog bite case I once had. My clients did own a dog, and the canine in question did lunge at a woman. All of that was confirmed and true. But the owner was in control of the dog, and the momentary lapse did NOT result in any bodily injury to the woman, who just before the statue of limitations ran out, filed a lawsuit – not in small claims court, but in superior court. In the paperwork she stated that she had been severely injured by the dog, and to compensate her copious losses, she deserved $50,000.00 in retribution.
Without any evidence to back up the claim, I figured the maximum that the prosecution could ask for and reasonably receive was $6,000.00 – $8,000.00, tops. (At the time, that was the going rate for dog bite cases, as in the State of California the onus is on the dog owner with 100% liability by law.) So what the other side was asking for was substantially more than what I believed to be my clients’ worst-case scenario.
In the end, that willingness to proceed to litigation got the movement we wanted, and we were able to settle the dispute as projected and predicted ($6,000.00) without going to trial.
When the other side’s bark is out of alignment with its bite, so they’re not giving you any incentive to settle, sometimes the best way to introduce reality into an otherwise unfounded (that’s being kind) and even absurd (often more the case) situation, is to let the dogs out because it’s GO TIME.
VIDEO: The Top 8 Ways to Know When It’s GO TIME: #3 When The Worst-Case Scenario Really Isn’t THAT Bad
Litigation, which is something I always argue shouldn’t be pursued lightly, can be a powerful tool to wield under certain specific circumstances.
I’ve already discussed how when there’s enough at stake or when the other side is ignoring you, moving toward litigation makes a lot of sense.
The third scenario is actually about, well, scenarios.
When the other side has some expectations that are terribly out of wack with what you assess to be the worst-case scenario, then you don’t have anything to lose by taking legal action.
How, then, do you assess the situation? Let’s take for example a dog bite case I once had. My clients did own a dog, and the canine in question did lunge at a woman. All of that was confirmed and true. But the owner was in control of the dog, and the momentary lapse did NOT result in any bodily injury to the woman, who just before the statue of limitations ran out, filed a lawsuit – not in small claims court, but in superior court. In the paperwork she stated that she had been severely injured by the dog, and to compensate her copious losses, she deserved $50,000.00 in retribution.
Without any evidence to back up the claim, I figured the maximum that the prosecution could ask for and reasonably receive was $6,000.00 – $8,000.00, tops. (At the time, that was the going rate for dog bite cases, as in the State of California the onus is on the dog owner with 100% liability by law.) So what the other side was asking for was substantially more than what I believed to be my clients’ worst-case scenario.
In the end, that willingness to proceed to litigation got the movement we wanted, and we were able to settle the dispute as projected and predicted ($6,000.00) without going to trial.
When the other side’s bark is out of alignment with its bite, so they’re not giving you any incentive to settle, sometimes the best way to introduce reality into an otherwise unfounded (that’s being kind) and even absurd (often more the case) situation, is to let the dogs out because it’s GO TIME.
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