There are some people in the world who like to threaten to sue at every opportunity. Most of the time, these threats can be dismissed as desperate actions undertaken by people who probably don’t even understand why they don’t have good reason to sue. There are those cases, however, where the person who threatens you actually may have some grounds to sue or to take other legal actions that could become problematic for you. Here are some ways that you can handle these situations without panicking, which is never a good reaction.
Sometimes You Just Need A Lawyer: Assess the Situation
The first thing you want to do is to make an honest assessment of the situation. This may be a little bit more challenging than you think. For example, if somebody is threatening to sue you over a car crash, you’re going to have to be honest with yourself about whether or not it was your fault. If you believe that it was, you may want to contact a personal injury attorney to talk to them about how you would go about offering that person a settlement and, at the very least, to make certain that you can find out how to get some legal representation for yourself. You don’t want to start talking to attorneys on your own; you want your own attorney to handle that.
Look for Pro Bono
Sometimes, attorneys will help people in situations where they are, more or less, being victimized by another person’s attorney. As an example of this, sometimes attorneys will put out cease and desist orders on behalf of their clients that really have no merit. These can be scary to get in the mail, but you should always talk to your attorney about them to see whether or not they’re valid. If they’re not, some attorneys will – just in the public interest, without charging a fee – send the attorney who sent the cease-and-desist letter a counter letter essentially telling them that they have no grounds to do anything about whatever they’re complaining about.
In situations where there’s nobody willing to help you for free, and where it is certain that the person is not just making an empty threat and they do intend to sue, you should always get an attorney. The adage about people who represent themselves having a fool for a client is true. Even attorneys get their own attorneys and don’t represent themselves. Get an attorney if you are the subject of a legitimate legal threat.