You've Been Served - Now What?

For most individuals, being served with a Summons is not an everyday occurrence. Unless you work within the court system or at a law firm, legal documents probably arouse some level of trepidation when someone brings them to your door. Hopefully a few basic "Dos" and "Don'ts" will help to ease that fear.  

DON'T ignore the Summons. The worst possible course of action after being served would be to ignore the issue. Even if you are 100% in the right, the problem will not go away if you ignore it. In fact, it will likely get exponentially worse.   

DO read everything in the Summons and Complaint. You should review what the Summons and Complaint have to say. The Complaint outlines the allegations against you.  Although the technicalities and legalities within the Complaint may be confusing, that document will give you an overview of why you are involved in the lawsuit.   

DON'T skip court dates. If the Summons lists a date when you are to appear in Court, make sure you are there. This goes along with the suggestion that you not ignore the Summons. There is never anything good that comes from missing scheduled Court hearings. There could be default judgments entered against you, which might eventually affect your credit. Missing some Court dates may result in the issuance of a body attachment for your arrest. Court dates are not something to take lightly.  

DO calendar dates. If there are dates listed in the Summons, make sure you set a reminder for those dates. I keep an electronic calendar, and Court dates get calendared immediately when they are received. Judges do not like when anyone fails to appear, but that is especially true for lawyers.  

DON'T immediately contact opposing counsel without legal representation. The attorney's office that filed the Complaint does NOT represent you. They represent their client and their client's interests. They have no obligation to explain the legal ramifications of your actions to you, and anything you tell them may be used against you later in the proceeding.

DO contact your insurance company. If you have been sued, you should notify your insurance company about the Complaint. This is not to say that you will necessarily be covered, but prompt notification is usually essential to make sure you are covered if the claim against you is something you are insured against.   

DON'T talk about the lawsuit with other people or online. It may be tempting to fight the Complaint in the court of public opinion. Don't do it. Anything you say to others or publish online may be used against you later in the proceeding. Especially early on in the proceeding, you should only discuss the lawsuit with your insurance company and your attorney.

DO contact a reputable attorney in your area. This is the best advice I can give. An attorney is going to be familiar with the legal process in your county, and will be able to give you guidance on how to proceed. Call and make an appointment to see a lawyer right away. If it is not the type of case their office handles, they would be in a great position to give you a recommendation on who to call. Make sure to give the attorney plenty of time to handle the issue. Tell his office of any upcoming deadlines or court dates when you call to schedule an appointment.

If you follow this advice, you will be well on your way to resolving your issue. Being sued is typically unfamiliar, and initially it can be scary. You may not be able to make the issue go away overnight, but you will sleep much better knowing that you have competent legal representation protecting your interests.

LegalZoom Legal Plans

I read, with interest, an article that was recently sent to me by LegalZoom advocating for consumers to hire attorneys. I'm not sure why I receive emails from LegalZoom, but I apparently do.  I guess it's always good to keep up with what the (purported) competition is doing.

For anyone unfamiliar with LegalZoom, they are a legal tech company that was started in the early 2000s.  Their business model started out as providing consumers with low-cost, online, do-it-yourself legal solutions.  I will admit, they seem have been pretty successful over the years generating revenue.  Your guess is as good as mine on the eventual outcomes of their products.   

After reading the article, you may assume that LegalZoom finally came to their senses and realized that every legal matter does not fit a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all, model.  Or, if a savvy reader scans all the way to the end of the article, they might see that LegalZoom is marketing their contract legal plans. 

Interested in what the legal plan had to offer, I went ahead and reviewed the Legal Plan Contract.  For the "best value" of $9.99 a month, the LegalZoom legal plan offers consumers the following:

1.  A 30-minute phone call with a legal plan attorney to discuss a "new" legal matter, which does not involve business matters (there is a different plan for that) or tax matters.  And, if the plan attorney deems it appropriate, a letter that does not exceed 2 pages.

2.  Review of a legal document up to 10 pages for a "new" matter and a call from a plan attorney about the same.

3.  A legal checkup once a year including a 1 hour phone call to discuss the client's "legal portfolio."

4.  A 25% discount on the plan attorney's fees, as reported to LegalZoom, if hired by the client for additional work.

There were several other gems in the Contract, but, with the exception of the auto-renewal language, these were the meat of the agreement.  So, what does a consumer's $120 per year actually get them?  Not much. 

Let's run through a scenario:  When, and if, you actually get on the line with a live attorney, your legal issue is not going to be resolved in a 30-minute phone call.  Even if the contract you have is less than 10 pages (the Legal Plan Contract itself was 6), there will be language in that contract the plan attorney does not like.  He will tell you that he suggests you hire him to help you navigate your issue.  Knowing that his rate would be discounted 25%, he probably reported his rate to LegalZoom as being 25% higher.   

In all likelihood, the plan attorney is not going to be located in the same place you live and will be in some dream location, like Chicago.  Now you are dealing with a non-resident attorney.  Going to their office to meet with them is going to be burdensome, and they will probably charge you to travel to you, if it becomes necessary.  They are not familiar with the community you live in, nor are they familiar with the people who live and work there.

Here's a better suggestion:  If you have a legal matter that needs attention, you are always best served to consult an attorney.  Not sometimes, not only for things that are "complicated," not for things you cannot accomplish on your own.  ALWAYS.  So call someone local and go see them.  Ask friends and family members who they know and trust to handle your issue.  Unless you are delving into the wonderful world of litigation, anybody worth their salt should be able to give you an estimate of what the overall cost of the legal matter will be. 

Sometimes, we just don't want to do things like go to the doctor or see a lawyer.  If you are anything like me, you have probably done a Google search of your symptoms when you aren't feeling well.  After a short WebMD search, and convincing myself that I most likely have sarcoidosis, I usually go see the doctor.  And, thus far, when I leave his office, it is usually with a prescription and a prediction that I will be fine in a few days.