Posted by John Merchant on April 28, 2007 at 09:20:58:
Frank I commend you for fighting this thing.
Being one, I’ve gotta tell you my observation is that lawyers aren’t great at empathy or any matter on which they don’t see a fat fee a-comin’…and the party himself can often do a better job at self-representation than his lawyer would do for him.
Like a very great man, my father-in-law, used to say: “nobody cares as much about your business as you do” and this is a perfect example.
What’s the Big advantage in Small Claims Court?
NO LAWYERS for either side! So the court isn’t treated, bored or misdirected by bombast and can just pay attention to the facts.
I’d advise anybody being sued to absolutely not just roll over and play dead.
I couldn’t begin to tell you how many lawsuits I’ve seen dismissed over the years when the Plaintiff got hit back by a Counter-Claim Petition/Complaint that scared the heck out of him and/or his lawyer as it contained a lot more red meat than their original lawsuit.
e.g. a good friend got hit by a lawsuit re his failure to pay back a personal loan he’d got from a local lender @ 45% interest…and when my friend got sued, his lawyer filed a counter-suit for usury and big money damages arising from that usury.
It was a fact that the lender was well known in that community for doing such “Shylock/Mafia” loan deals.
Somehow the lender’s lawyer just seemed to lose any enthusiasm in proceeding and the thing got dismissed.