On 22 Feb 2007 09:22:01 -0600, Dave wrote:

It is also a fact that it is much cheaper to initiate a lawsuit than
it is to defend.

What is the basis for that conclusion?

Filing a suit is almost a rubber stamp process for someone who knows
what they are doing. The chance of success is immaterial in this
particular instance since its primary goal is issue recognition. I
believe it can be done by anyone with rudimentary knowledge of the
process. There are self help web sites available that are applicable
to many venues.

Wayne.B wrote:
On 22 Feb 2007 09:22:01 -0600, Dave wrote:


It is also a fact that it is much cheaper to initiate a lawsuit than
it is to defend.

That may or may not be the case. It depends. In
this case, it is certainly possible that the org
would assign a staff lawyer to defend the rogue
employee, resulting in little cost to him personally.

It is also certain that having to get approval for
the use of legal staff would raise awareness of
the problem within the org--especially if it
happened more than once.

What is the basis for that conclusion?


Filing a suit is almost a rubber stamp process for someone who knows
what they are doing. The chance of success is immaterial in this
particular instance since its primary goal is issue recognition. I
believe it can be done by anyone with rudimentary knowledge of the
process. There are self help web sites available that are applicable
to many venues.

It is not the filing of a lawsuit that costs a lot
of money. It is the successful prosecution of it.
To file a lawsuit only involves determining an
appropriate venue (court), typing up the
complaint, and filing it with the clerk of the
court. It may also involve having the person you
are sueing personally served with a certified copy
of the complaint, but not always. In some cases
the complaint can be served by certified mail.

After that, it is showing up for docket call, the
initial hearing, staying on top of any filings by
the opponents and responding to them, etc. This
also does not take a lot of time.

The real costs start during discovery, when the
plaintiffs lawyer has to put in days of time to
set up and attend depositions, produce documents,
go over the opponents documents, etc.

More real costs occur during preparation for
trial, and the trial itself, as that will also
require days of the plaintiffs lawyer's time
assuming that he wants to be successful.

Been there, done that, and learned a lot. :/

Still, for anyone that is willing to spend a few
thousand dollars to make a point, it is quite
doable. It helps a lot if you have an attorney
friend who will do the filings and not fluff your
bill.

Don W.

"Don W" wrote in message
. ..

It is not the filing of a lawsuit that costs a lot of money. It is the
successful prosecution of it. To file a lawsuit only involves determining
an appropriate venue (court), typing up the complaint, and filing it with
the clerk of the court. It may also involve having the person you are
sueing personally served with a certified copy of the complaint, but not
always. In some cases the complaint can be served by certified mail.

After that, it is showing up for docket call, the initial hearing, staying
on top of any filings by the opponents and responding to them, etc. This
also does not take a lot of time.

The real costs start during discovery, when the plaintiffs lawyer has to
put in days of time to set up and attend depositions, produce documents,
go over the opponents documents, etc.

More real costs occur during preparation for trial, and the trial itself,
as that will also require days of the plaintiffs lawyer's time assuming
that he wants to be successful.

Been there, done that, and learned a lot. :/

Still, for anyone that is willing to spend a few thousand dollars to make
a point, it is quite doable. It helps a lot if you have an attorney
friend who will do the filings and not fluff your bill.

Don W.


There are also various "Legal Aide Societies" around which do a lot of
pro-bono work, using para-legals to assist in filing cases where the
plaintiff cannot afford big guns (or, for that matter, pop guns).

So my question is why in hell do you all think that this Venice FL
cop-criminal should be brought up on civil charges.
If he's obviously pursuing illegal activity, shouldnt he (and the
subsequent magistrate who's benefitting from all the 'lucre') be
brought up on CRIMINAL charges .... fraud, bunco, etc. ???? This is
fraud/extortion pure and simple .... and as such is a CRIMINAL
activity.
What think you all?


In article , KLC Lewis
wrote:

"Don W" wrote in message
. ..

It is not the filing of a lawsuit that costs a lot of money. It is the
successful prosecution of it. To file a lawsuit only involves determining
an appropriate venue (court), typing up the complaint, and filing it with
the clerk of the court. It may also involve having the person you are
sueing personally served with a certified copy of the complaint, but not
always. In some cases the complaint can be served by certified mail.

After that, it is showing up for docket call, the initial hearing, staying
on top of any filings by the opponents and responding to them, etc. This
also does not take a lot of time.

The real costs start during discovery, when the plaintiffs lawyer has to
put in days of time to set up and attend depositions, produce documents,
go over the opponents documents, etc.

More real costs occur during preparation for trial, and the trial itself,
as that will also require days of the plaintiffs lawyer's time assuming
that he wants to be successful.

Been there, done that, and learned a lot. :/

Still, for anyone that is willing to spend a few thousand dollars to make
a point, it is quite doable. It helps a lot if you have an attorney
friend who will do the filings and not fluff your bill.

Don W.


There are also various "Legal Aide Societies" around which do a lot of
pro-bono work, using para-legals to assist in filing cases where the
plaintiff cannot afford big guns (or, for that matter, pop guns).

Rich Hampel wrote:
So my question is why in hell do you all think that this Venice FL
cop-criminal should be brought up on civil charges.
If he's obviously pursuing illegal activity, shouldnt he (and the
subsequent magistrate who's benefitting from all the 'lucre') be
brought up on CRIMINAL charges .... fraud, bunco, etc. ???? This is
fraud/extortion pure and simple .... and as such is a CRIMINAL
activity.
What think you all?

Well, you can try to file criminal charges, but to
do that you've got to work with a local district
attorney. Also, you'd have to research Florida
statutes to see which ones he violated.

To haul him before a judge in civil court all you
have to do is get the complaint drawn up and file
it with the court. That and start issuing press
releases to the media...

Don W.