Lawsuit – Radio Guesting June 14, 2022

Transcript

00:00

At FR Law Group, we approach the law from a business perspective because we share your business mindset by representing hundreds of companies over a decade. Our firm has the business acumen necessary to help your company create a sound budget while avoiding the usual pitfalls. Get the benefit of our national level experience without the national level price tag, FR Law Group, the right team to have on your side, Call 602-566-7425 or visit frlawgroup.com.

00:59

Welcome to networking Arizona with host Carol Blonder. You’ll hear interviews with businesses located throughout the valley. Networking, it makes a difference.

01:12

Welcome to the show everyone we’re blown away in here right now. I’m so excited about being here and networking with everybody. We are live on Facebook. So I do want to say hi to everybody out there like us and follow us. We’ll share the show later on. I’m gonna go in with networking right away, my first guest, while they’re law group has been on with me several times for quite some time now. But I knew they like to bring on different lawyers within their group to talk a little bit about each area of law that they help with. So I have with me, Rita Gara. And she is with the FR Law Group. Welcome back to the show. You’ve been here a few times. Tell everybody a little bit about FR Law Group and what makes them different read up on the mic. Absolutely. Hi, Carol. Thanks for having me back. I think one of the things that sets apart FR Law Group is the level of experience

02:10

Is typically the experience you find in a large law firm. But we are managing partners. Troy Froderman and Scott Ryan really wanted to take their decades of big law experience and put it in an environment that would allow for a much closer relationship and the ability to spend a lot more time on individual cases. So they started this firm with the idea that it would have the experience of a large law firm, and everything that comes with that kind of knowledge, but you’d get the feel of a lot more attention in one on one. When people think about law firms. And they think okay, well, they’re a big national they’ve been, they help people that they need to be a larger corporation or business, not necessarily with you. Absolutely not, and you know, you want to make sure that your case, a lot of times,

03:02

you can get lost in a larger law firm or you meet with one person, but they’re not the person showing up at a court appearance, somebody else is handling, the court hearing or you get shuffled around and here, you’re going to have just much closer contact, yet all the skills and experience that you need for anything from a simple case to something very complex. So today, you said that you wanted to talk a little bit about what people should consider when considering a lawsuit. So let’s talk a little bit about that. Because there’s things that we’re going to break down here, because there’s a lot that goes into doing this. So first of all, number one, and I know we didn’t write this down, but I gotta say, the first thing you got to know is if you got a case, yeah, that’s the person.

03:50

Yeah, and I think, you know, it’s it’s something that, you know, a lawsuit, the idea of filing a lawsuit at trial, you know, we all just got through the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp case that was zooming everybody, everybody, you know, to some extent has an idea or think they have an idea, but the reality of it can be very different. And you’re right, one of the first things is do I even have a case. And that can depend on a lot of things. It can depend on things that you might need to consult with an attorney on to really evaluate that whether or not you have the evidence to establish the elements of your cause of action, whether

04:25

you know, you are going to be bringing it in a timely manner. So lots of things to consider, which are great to go over.

04:32

And it really starts before you even talk with an attorney. I think the first thing that most people may not think about is if you are even anticipating the potential for a lawsuit, you need to start holding on to everything. And you don’t want to be making the determination yourself of what you think is important or not important. You want to save it all and I think depending on what kind of business you’re in, and whether or not your business isn’t

05:00

involved in litigation, some businesses are no strangers to litigation. You know, some are kind of used to that idea of preservation and things that they have to hold on to for a certain period of time. Other people or individuals may not be aware of what you have to hang on to and what can happen if you don’t. So there can be significant negative consequences if you don’t hang on to evidence that would be pertinent to your complaint. So, for instance, we had a construction company, a large construction company. And you can imagine you’re working on a big project, lots of different employees, and one of the project managers wasn’t aware

05:40

that he needed to hang on to a certain category of documents. Some point a lawsuit was filed, and the other side

05:50

wanted to file a motion with the court and wanted the evidence that would have been contained in those documents, they didn’t want our client to be able to bring that up. At trial, basically, you’ve lost your opportunity for us to consider any of the information in those documents because you didn’t save them. Very important. Very important, as you can imagine, and the judge, and so there’s a couple of negatives related to that, number one, now you’re going to pay your attorneys to fight about this issue. So you are going to incur additional costs because you didn’t hang on to that. And then the judge has a couple different options they can do, the judge can decide that the evidence doesn’t come in, the judge can decide it’s so prejudiced to the other side that he’s going to dismiss the case, which, then it’s over. And then the third thing they can do, which can have a really negative impact is let’s say you end up in a jury trial, they can instruct the jury that, that jury can consider that whatever would have been on those missed documents was favorable to your opposing party. So the bottom line is, take notes, take write down times, dates, people that you spoke with, or things like that, if there’s actual hard evidence, make sure you hold on to that. And that can be the other part of that. Absolutely yes to all those things. And make sure we’re talking about a business that everybody in your organization understands what’s important to be kept as well. It only works if everybody who has access to those documents understands and isn’t throwing things in the garbage. So if you’re going to do something like this, you have to make sure that everybody understands what you’re doing.

07:37

So again, we want to go back to also the fact that once they have done all this, and they’re stuck, really having that conversation having a you know, it’s a free consultation that you offer, so that you sit down with them. And obviously, you are going to tell them what to do, you know, because that’s how you help them with their case. Do I have a case now that you maybe have a case? These are the things that you need to do to get that information together so that we can present a good case? Yeah, that’s absolutely right. And, and I think that there’s a couple of other things, you know, one of the conversations you’re gonna have or what are my options?

08:15

But to kind of go back real quick, one of the things you brought up was one of the first things is do I even have a case, one of the real important things that goes along with that is, am I time barred from bringing this case. So states have statutes of limitations which provide you a time frame within which you have to bring a case and it would be nice if they would have it really simple in one timeframe for everything any kind of cause of action, you have six years to bring it but of course, it’s not that simple. So for example, contract case six years but an oral contract, three years, and you don’t want to make the mistake of misinterpreting the law and thinking you have enough time to

08:59

bring a lawsuit or save money if that’s what the case is, or you know, whatever it may be that would go into you making that decision. You want to understand that timeframe. And unfortunately, if you missed that timeframe, maybe it’s game over, do nothing. Right now their phone number to call is 602-566-7425 It’s frlawgroup.com They work nationwide. We’re gonna go for a break when we come back we’re going to talk further. We got air blowing all over the place here because our air and it’s going down my lungs, 602-566-7425.

12:53

So welcome back. We’ve been talking to Facebook land out there right now. And we’ve been talking a little bit about when you do decide that you are going to possibly go forward with a lawsuit, what to do. Obviously, we talked about preserving evidence, we talked about knowing whether you have a case having that consultation, so important. You also mentioned that having the consultation, first of all, it’s free. So there’s no money involved right there. But also to know whether or not you get along, right, and that you guys are going to jail because that’s so important. Go ahead. Yeah, we were talking about that one of these is going to be an important relationship. And so I think one of the biggest things as well is feeling comfortable with who you are paying your good money to represent you, are you going to get the communicate, one of the one of the biggest complaints they tell us

13:44

is that people have with respect to their representation is a lack of communication. And that can be take all kinds of forms, it can mean, you call or you email and you’re not getting a response for a week, it can mean

13:58

you know, they’re not keeping you apprised of the timeline, or the things that are happening in a case. We had a client who had an attorney settle a case without letting them know and did think that would happen is outrageous. So it’s going to be a really important relationship for you and you want to feel comfortable. I know one of the things that I hate is when I’m meeting with somebody. I want to talk to somebody I’ll tell you right now, that is so important to me that I have that verbal conversation, not a text, not an email, I need to have that in and are you going to get that or are they not going to be available by phone in and how much you’re going to pay for that phone call and how do they bill? The phone calls? And you know, the other thing is, are they going to listen, there’s nothing worse than feeling rushed off and not being heard. So, you know, do you have a good report? So that’s invaluable. So we want to talk to you about also if you’re deciding that you might want to, you know, go forward with a lawsuit. Not to wait.

15:00

To have that consultation, because there’s many things that can come in. But one of the things that you wanted to talk about was how the most important thing for people to understand is the emotional impact this has on not only the person everybody is involved with, but also it’s going to trickle down to the entire business. So you wanted to talk a bit about that, go ahead. I think that’s something that doesn’t get talked a lot about, you can’t really underestimate enough.

15:30

You know, what’s involved in something like this, typically, if you’re at the point of suing, and this is for people to who aren’t, you know, some people are kind of, depending on how large your business is, and how often

15:43

litigation comes up, this may just be the cost of doing business, and you’re kind of jaded to that. But for many people and smaller businesses, when it’s not something that is the regular part of your day.

15:57

It can be very stressful, and there’s emotions attached to it. You know, it’s you’re suing somebody because you think something’s unfair, typically, you think you’ve been wronged in some manner. And so, on top of that, the way it’s set up to be an adversary, adversarial process, it can, it can inspire a lot of emotions. And so I always think it’s important to have a really clear conversation about all the things that are gonna go into this, that might become an issue for you. One of the things that frustrates people, which is the obvious thing is cost, it’s expensive, how much is it going to cost me and, of course, depending on your situation, sometimes there may be, you may be able to arrange a contingency fee,

16:42

basis for payment, whereby you’re not paying anything upfront, but a lot of the stuff gets billed hourly. So understanding what the undertaking must, might cost you and how you can pay for that, is it going to be a large retainer upfront, a little retainer and you pay a little bit as you go? Those are things that you’re going to want to know. And then time, how long is this going to take?

17:07

You know, you can have the idea that this might be a lawsuit. And sometimes there’s ways to resolve it, before you even get to that,

17:16

to the filing of a complaint, you might be able to do what we call a demand letter, where you’re basically saying, I’ve got these issues with you. Here’s why sometimes that’s all it takes, yeah.

17:26

Because the other person doesn’t want to get involved in this either. And depending on how reasonable you are, or how strong your cases are, it might be worth that consultation, just to understand that I might not be looking at this big, large, complicated lawsuit, maybe we can work this out, and it does happen.

17:44

But then moving forward, if it’s not something that’s going to be resolved that way, you do have to understand the time. And I think that’s important, so that you kind of understand and settle in for what the process is going to be and how much you’re going to have to be involved. And when you can expect a resolution.

18:01

You know, it starts with the filing of a complaint, and then there’s time and the other side gets to answer. And then you go through a period of discovery where each side, you know, kind of shares, it’s a long process, a long process 123, let’s go through that. And when we talk about time, I mentioned the word emotional, there’s emotional time that’s involved with this too. Because when you’re, maybe it’s not going in the direction that you want, maybe you’re still waiting for this, that or the other thing and you’re getting upset. And that takes away from you being able to do what you do best, which is your business. And it’s no matter how much you can understand as part of the process. And each side gets, you know, as an attorney the number of times I can tell you where somebody has gotten offended by something the other attorney put it in motion and and it starts all over. And you know, and it isn’t. It shouldn’t be personal, but it feels personal. Because it’s personal to you because you care about it. That’s why you’re spending money to get this resolution. So it does take an emotional toll. You know, I did criminal law for a long time. And one of the things that seemed to be important to victims often was getting their day in court. I was just gonna mention that that’s something that you wanted to talk about, because everyone wants their voice. Yeah, they want their chance. Yeah. And it’s not always what you would imagine or hope it would be when people talk about wanting closure. People talk about, you know, again that day in court and I think that it’s not always what you would manage, imagine it to be you don’t always get that. That feeling of you know, yes. And to understand that and to be real clear in your head about what is most important to you to get out of this lawsuit. Again, the first thing to do is to find out. Do I have a case to find out what it’s going to take to educate yourself? You’ve talked a lot about that too before. The phone number for you to call them

20:00

602-566-7425, it’s frlawgroup.com. They work nationwide, they do free consultations, my opinion is on all of this. And I’ve said this before on certain things, I don’t care if you’re a plumber, I don’t care if you are a, you know, an attorney, when you need something, you don’t just want to go on to Google and just find somebody, you know, they have a five star rating, great, you know, whatever. Put the number in your phone for a reputable attorney. Right. And so it could be now and it could be sometime down the line, their number again. 602-566-7425. It’s frlawgroup.com. You know, for you when you work with people. And you know, I mean.

20:52

Like you said before, there’s some people that are used to doing these kinds of things. Yeah. But would you say that they’re the people that come to you, most of them? aren’t used to it? I would say the majority are not, it’s not something that they are regularly involved in. So when we talked about education, do you help them with, you know, obviously, you gotta tell them, You’re gonna take this on here to talk to them and tell them exactly what we need. And you’re in a hold their hand basically, from day one, I think that that’s the most important thing we talked about, kind of finding that right fit for an attorney for you. And one of the things that I think is so important is I want you to trust me, and trust what I’m saying and that I am working for you. And one of the ways you do that is make sure that you communicate and that you’re communicating in a timely basis, and that the information you’re giving them is information they can count on and rely on and give them the information and the story of what’s going on to find out, is this something that we want to move forward with? Can we do something about it? Or if we do, what do we need to do to make sure that we win because that’s what the bottom line is they want to win. And that’s you know, and that’s part of the flip side of that is giving them the bad news that they might not want to hear. But you know, I’ve had that conversation many times where, you know, they’ll kind of push back and be a little upset with what I’m saying. And I’ll respond back, you know, at the end of the day, I’m working for you. And I can tell you what you want to hear and I know what you want to hear, but then I’d be wasting your money. Well, and the other thing I want to say is there’s a lot of people that have gotten into business, maybe you don’t even have a contract, maybe you do and you know, somebody hasn’t read it in a while or there’s some differences that have talked about you must look at them. You really need to sit down and just have that consultation, put the number in your phone for a reputable attorney, it’s 602-566-7425 frlawgroup.com. They do work nationwide. They’re right here in Phoenix, but they work nationwide. They do free consultations. And to me, that is the best thing to do. And I love that what you said is what I want you to do is be able to trust me, and the only way you’re going to be able to do that is to sit down and talk today with people when you’re working with people. Are you able to sit down and meet because you know, I’m still a little old fashioned. Yeah, I like that kind of thing. Can they come in and meet with you and sit down and talk or how can so it’s you know, and the pandemic has changed us all. But we absolutely do meet in person. I like that too. I’m old school that way. But some people who are really busy, that doesn’t work for them. We can zoom, do a team’s meeting phone, email, depending on the needs of the client. We are really very flexible. Now, again, don’t wait. If you think that there’s something going on where you might have their statute of limitations. There’s things like this that you’d need to make sure that you’re still in the area where you can still go after them if you have to. That’s right, right. Again, to get that information to have that consultation to get educated to know that you can trust them and that’s what they want you to do their number again. 602-566-7425 It’s frlawgroup.com