[asterisk-biz] Bunch of asterisk-related domains for sale

[Trixter aka Bret McDanel]

On Mon, 2008-01-07 at 07:16 -0500, Lee Jenkins wrote:
> That is a really good point.  I filed suite (pro se) against a utility company 
> and pursued it all the way up to State Supreme Court over a 3 year period with 
> many motion hearings in between small claims, district, appeals and finally 
> supreme court.  I lost of course, but while it was not my intention or 
> motivation for litigation, I know for a fact it cost them quite a bit to defend 
> against the suit, even though the suit never really saw itself in a court room.
> 

And that is also why I am for tort reform in the US.  Its too easy to to
pull these types of tricks and its not an uncommon one in the big bad
world of business, where corporations file suits just to try to dry up
the opposition.  Its going on now in the telecom industry, it has
happened with SCO over Linux, and its going to continue to happen until
there is real tort reform that makes it more painful to bring a silly
case.  Not saying that yours was, although if no lawyer would take the
case, and you lost, it is likely that it didnt have the best merit
(generally with pro per cases, one where you represent yourself, judges
give more leeway).


> Cost me about $500.00 total between filing fees, serving involved parties, etc. 
>   I understand it cost them upwards of $200K to defend.  There is some 
> satisfaction in knowing that they will probably think twice before doing again 
> what precipitated the suit in the first place.

$200k seems a bit high, although they have to answer it or risk a
default judgement.  The appeals probably are what added to that, its not
uncommon for a 'first round defense' where the plantiff has at least
someone in the shadows helping with writing briefs and such, and a 'face
value case' (one that doesnt get a summary dismissal) to cost $25-50k.
So its all about economics, this is why lawyers refer to suits for $5000
or less as 'frivolous suits' and generally will instruct their client to
just settle because it will be cheaper, even if they win.

A small group of people doing something like this could do serious
bottom line damage to a company, and unless you can show that they acted
together in a conspiracy (not in the legal sense) knowing their cases
had no merit it is really difficult to actually get any of that money
spent back.  If you can get summary dismissals it becomes easier but
quite often judges wont do that instead letting a jury decide.  

Now the rules change if you have staff legal, like say microsoft or
google.  Their lawyers are on salary and are paid whether or not they
litigate, so it does not cost extra aside from filing fees and such to
goto court.  Infact it is to a point a waste of money if you have them
on salary and dont use them.  Smaller companies, even ones who may have
millions per year in gross revenue, may not have competent legal on
staff, and if they do and you can file in a different state (say where
you are over a defective product as an example) you can make them come
to you, and if their lawyer isnt bar certified in that state and cant
get a waiver then they have to contract it out, which is an added
expense over the travel costs.

This is how many took on paypal and won over fees and such.  Paypal
usually would try for a venue change to give them a larger advantage,
and you a smaller one, but that often doesnt fly because service is
delivered locally.


-- 
Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
Belfast +44 28 9099 6461        US +1 516 687 5200
http://www.trxtel.com the phone company that pays you!