> Remember a demand letter is just a threat... It's only when you get sued that actually need an attorney (unless you want one).
> In small claims court in California you are not allowed to be represented by an attorney unfortunately.
I'm sorry, Joel, but in my opinion this is just bad advice. In a case like this one, if an attorney sends you a demand letter, an attorney should respond. Yes, small claims court doesn't permit attorneys in all states, but the original letter was a demand for $250,000, which is well beyond small claims. Yes, it was a flatly spurious demand, but that doesn't make replying without an attorney the best course of action. You need an attorney any time someone opposed to you gets an attorney involved in a matter. Otherwise, you're bringing a knife to a gunfight. Sometimes you get lucky and it turns out the gun is loaded with blanks - that's what happened this time. You cannot be certain you'll be that lucky all the time, in fact, in most cases you won't be.
A competent attorney knows the law and knows (not just suspects) when the other side is being crazy. The letter you originally got is, on the surface, ridiculous, but sometimes, so is the law. Frankly, I think responding to their demand letter with a good, well-crafted on-law-firm-letterhead reply (telling them to buzz off) would likely have made them back down, or at least settle for a total cost less than what it cost you to deal with this on your own. Lawyers know this is a game they're playing where each side cowers the other - and if the letter writer wasn't willing to represent your former clients all the way through the process, he probably knew that if his bluff was called, his clients had no recourse. Further, an attorney would tell you right away, and probably for free, how to avoid the biggest mistake you made: not showing up to court. No half-decent lawyer would ever let you make that misstep.
Yes, you would have lost out a little in having to pay somebody to handle the response - but given the extreme risk and expense of (even frivolous) civil litigation, I think the costs of an attorney likely pales in comparison to what you did end up paying in time, money, and stress, plus the ability of an attorney to lower the risk of the situation overall, even if they did charge $1200 an hour (not all or even most do).
Edit: What I'm trying to say is - you seem intelligent and are clearly successful. It's easy for a smart, successful person who has had good luck in the past to think they've got something like this handled. What I am trying to impress upon you is that in this case, you can't afford what might happen if you're wrong, because it might cost you everything. The stakes are too high not to go with the best option.
I'm sorry, Joel, but in my opinion this is just bad advice. In a case like this one, if an attorney sends you a demand letter, an attorney should respond. Yes, small claims court doesn't permit attorneys in all states, but the original letter was a demand for $250,000, which is well beyond small claims. Yes, it was a flatly spurious demand, but that doesn't make replying without an attorney the best course of action. You need an attorney any time someone opposed to you gets an attorney involved in a matter. Otherwise, you're bringing a knife to a gunfight. Sometimes you get lucky and it turns out the gun is loaded with blanks - that's what happened this time. You cannot be certain you'll be that lucky all the time, in fact, in most cases you won't be.
A competent attorney knows the law and knows (not just suspects) when the other side is being crazy. The letter you originally got is, on the surface, ridiculous, but sometimes, so is the law. Frankly, I think responding to their demand letter with a good, well-crafted on-law-firm-letterhead reply (telling them to buzz off) would likely have made them back down, or at least settle for a total cost less than what it cost you to deal with this on your own. Lawyers know this is a game they're playing where each side cowers the other - and if the letter writer wasn't willing to represent your former clients all the way through the process, he probably knew that if his bluff was called, his clients had no recourse. Further, an attorney would tell you right away, and probably for free, how to avoid the biggest mistake you made: not showing up to court. No half-decent lawyer would ever let you make that misstep.
Yes, you would have lost out a little in having to pay somebody to handle the response - but given the extreme risk and expense of (even frivolous) civil litigation, I think the costs of an attorney likely pales in comparison to what you did end up paying in time, money, and stress, plus the ability of an attorney to lower the risk of the situation overall, even if they did charge $1200 an hour (not all or even most do).
Edit: What I'm trying to say is - you seem intelligent and are clearly successful. It's easy for a smart, successful person who has had good luck in the past to think they've got something like this handled. What I am trying to impress upon you is that in this case, you can't afford what might happen if you're wrong, because it might cost you everything. The stakes are too high not to go with the best option.