Originally posted by aslyfox potential client asking for an opinion from an attorney -
do I have a case, can I sue ?
- yes but that isn't the correct question
will I win ?
- possibly, but that still isn't the correct question
well, what is the correct question ?
- there are two correct questions:
- - - can you collect the judgment
- - - and would the judgement be greater than the cost and effort of litigation
That is the first question, and there's also the cost of collection as well. I used to tell prospectives that if their case wasn't worth at least ten thousand dollars, there's really no point in pursuing legal compensation, merely as a matter of time, convenience, and money. Of course that leads to two problems in society: first, the average nonlawyer may take a notion to pursue extralegal methods of gaining "justice" for himself (my torts professor said the reason for tort law is to keep joe and bill from going out behind the castle to hack at each other with broadswords), and secondly, when the average nonlawyer gets tired of a system that continuously supports nickle-and-diming people to death and decides as a group that they don't need no stinkin' government anymore. When the numbers of those who are "not economically viable" (ref: "Falling Down") acquires critical mass, we're going to have trouble, right here in River City. Oh, no, that's a different movie, isn't it?