Anybody here ever been sued or threatened with suit?

[culturejam]

Just checking in on the "getting threatened with a suit" front. I'm talking civil suits here.

Had a brush with that today (not cool) and looking to vent a bit and find some folks with which to commiserate.

I know this is an odd thread, but uh, this is an odd forum.

[ohsojayadeva]

I was definitely sued by a shady landlord who seemed to have even shadier dealings with the local judge. They literally would set aside an entire day, every. single. week. just for all the people this landlord was suing. He produced photos of "damage" to the apartment that I had left that clearly did not match the apartment that I lived in.

Needless to say, I lost.

[SPACERITUAL]

I got sued over a car crash i was in. It was a fucking awful experience.

[hclapp219]

There are so many different kinds of civil suits out there, so its hard to know what to suggest. Although I've never been threatened with one, I imagine the best thing to do if you think it's a credible threat is to lawyer up or see if you can get advice from a lawyer friend.

Does this have anything to do with a website you moderate?

[smile_man]

I got sued over a car crash i was in. It was a fucking awful experience.

i was expecting more.

[Achtane]

I got sued over a car crash i was in. It was a fucking awful experience.

i was expecting more.

Well, he was drunk and having sex with the victim's mother while driving.

[tuffteef]

nope but i can imagine it being really stupid and annoying

[magiclawnchair]

I got sued over a car crash i was in. It was a fucking awful experience.

i was expecting more.

Well, he was drunk and having sex with the victim's gerbil while driving.

[theavondon]

Who threatened ya? WHERE DID HE TOUCH YOU? SHOW ME ON THE DOLL!

[SPACERITUAL]

I got sued over a car crash i was in. It was a fucking awful experience.

i was expecting more.

Well, he was drunk and having sex with the victim's gerbil while driving.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q5Q3rSx2oQ[/youtube]

[futuresailors]

Only every time I'm around this guy...

[magiclawnchair]

FUCKYEAH

[eatyourguitar]

I've been sued for credit cards I never paid off and I won. do your research and wear them out. the legal system provides many opportunities to make sure your rights are not being violated. another way of saying that is the legal system provides many ways you can delay and make them work harder for a victory. the best part is that as a defendant, you can represent yourself for free and not incur any court costs unless they are also being sued for court costs and you loose. its also very easy to submit a counter claim without paying a filing fee. you'll be provided with an answer form and you just fill it in with your counter claim. you can also bring or amend your counter claim at a later date before the judgement is made by the court provided that you have a reason for not bringing it sooner. I even submitted a counter claim after a judgement since my motion to vacate was sustained. this all depends on your states rules of civil procedure which vary state to state.

what did you get in trouble for? you didn't sign anything yet so tell us.

[culturejam]

another way of saying that is the legal system provides many ways you can delay and make them work harder for a victory.

I spent an hour on the phone with "my attorney" (he's one of my best friends, but has offered to defend me, or refer me to a more appropriate counsel, if anything gets shitty), and he basically said just what you did. If somebody does want to go the distance and waste a shitload of money suing you, there are many ways to drag it out as long as possible and cost them more money and just generally annoy the shit out of them. He also told me that for the kind of lawsuit we talked about would likely cost around $30k to initiate, and it would almost certainly require a big retainer upfront to the plaintiff's attorney (around $10k). There are always people with more money than sense, so yo have to be careful. But it's a steep cost to really go all out on a proper civil suit of the nature I was/is facing.

what did you get in trouble for? you didn't sign anything yet so tell us.

On advice of legal counsel, I can only say that it is related directly and entirely to expressing an opinion (on a forum) about a specific effects pedal. That shouldn't help you at all, because I've expressed thousands of opinionated statements regarding effects pedals over several forums over several years. Of course, expressing an opinion isn't illegal or defamatory, but you don't need to be right, or have half a clue about law, in order to sue somebody.

[Achtane]

Blink once if Mr. Freekish Blues is the culprit and twice if he is.