If ever you hire a Trial Lawyer, one of the many things that you must have them do is a “Cost-benefit analysis” before you proceed. Litigation is an expensive undertaking that can be quantified in terms of total cost against the total anticipated benefit. The first question should be, “how much will it take to make this problem go away?” If your attorney does not have a well-formulated answer, then you should find another lawyer who has business savvy and could answer this for you. At the very least, they should be able to give you an educated guess. Statistically speaking, only 3% of all cases go to trial. The question is how much money does it take to finally arrive upon a mutually acceptable resolution. In certain cases, the amount unnecessarily balloons to more than the initial amount in dispute.
About two years ago, a friend of mine was looking for an attorney to help him with an issue he was grappling with. I sat in on a couple of their meetings and was astonished by the chest pumping, testosterone oozing approach that this one attorney took. With uncommon bravado, he said - “I’m a really aggressive litigator and I know most of the judges in the area. I was once a judge pro tem myself”. I was listening to this and thinking to myself, “that’s all great, but how much will this cost my friend?” Many of the attorney’s who practice law do not have real world business experience and have no appreciation for the financial aspect of litigation. Their goal is almost always to win and the cost becomes almost secondary.
Lacambra vs. First Team Real Estate et al is a perfect example of such buffoonery. By now, I suspect that these defendants have run up many thousands of dollars in billable hours and never once asked me, in good faith, how much will it cost to make this go away? The amount that they have been billed for has certainly exceeded the commission that they would have paid me in the first place. The funny thing is, it’s far from over. This case will be filed in Federal Court within a matter of days. So, how do you explain, as a lawyer, that the dispute has escalated to something this costly? And, further, how do you explain as a lawyer, that you will also be joining your client as a defendant?
This is one of a couple of actions that I wanted to consolidate and have motions already on calendar. But as discoveries have given me reason, I need to add another defendant (Countrywide Home Loans). Normally, the court requires a "request for leave to amend" just to add another defendant. That will take approximately 30 days to get the matter heard. Together with the motion for consolidation, it will take several weeks just to get this done. I did a “cost-benefit analysis” and discovered that it would be the best use of my resources in terms of money and effort to simply draft a new complaint that includes all the defendants.
So, the lesson is, choose your attorney wisely. There is no doubt that you will be depending on them for their legal savvy. But never forget that you hired them for their judgment and common sense. If they cannot find a way to resolve your situation without an adrenal show of their courtroom prowess, you're in trouble.
In the next few days, I will blog about my new front on the war against the “UNPROFESSIONALS”. I’ve developed what is called the “hurry up offense” which I will explain in future postings. The new theater of operations will be in the federal jurisdiction. (I say that because the courtroom is really a theater.) The advantages of the federal courts are numerous. One I am keen on is the rule that allows me to attest to serving my own papers. In Superior Court, it is required that you have someone else sign the “Proof of Service”. Another advantage is the acceptable use of a digital camera during a deposition. The expense of hiring a court reporter for my depositions, as is required in Superior Court, is simply cost prohibitive. So, as promised, we are going to have future episodes of “Robert’s Justice” on YouTube. The deponents can only hope that they’re photogenic enough. But my damaging line of questions will certainly fix all that.
