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Comment by devoutsalsa

5 years ago

Or simply ignore them until they actually sue you.

I'd say ignore is better than DIY your response.

  • Possibly? But I'd primarily say IANAL and you're best off spending the fifty bucks to get a half hour of some lawyer's time on the phone.

    A while ago I needed to briefly retain a lawyer to navigate a complex contract with my employer, there may be terrible lawyers out there but the person I reached out to was exceedingly thorough in explaining things (and I, as a dev, had lots of rules-lawyery questions to throw at them), quite prompt in their response and charged a modest fee.

    Speaking to a lawyer will absolutely cost you more than a coffee, but it's not that pricey in the scheme of things compared to getting in legal hot water.

    • totally agree. I was picking the least bad option between: a) ignore, b) DIY response. Of course, my opinion, and IMNAL :)

  • Reply: "Thank you for your letter. I am awaiting your writ." Say nothing else.

    Without a writ, you have little idea what the substance of their legal claim is; there's no purpose in hiring an attorney, because there's nothing for him to work on. So you are saying: "I don't fold to hollow threats and bullying. If you have a proper legal claim, make a proper legal claim."

    If you then get a writ, show it to a lawyer.

    If you have no substantial assets, it might be worth pointing that out (once the writ arrives). Nobody wants to sue a man of straw.

  • Ignoring is in general the worst thing you can do, if they do anything more it looks bad on you in court.

    I do agree with those who say get a lawyer to send your response. However you should still do the research yourself - to the best of your ability. You can save yourself some expensive lawyer time by knowing the basics and having a potential draft (be careful: make it clear that you do not have any emotional ties to it so the lawyer is free to tear it up) of your response.