How Much Justice Can One Afford

In negotiating three very different cases yesterday, as usual the stumbling block centered around the all mighty dollar. We were at one number and the adversary was at another number. In all three cases the numbers were close but could make a lifestyle difference of some significance to the party having to pay the higher amount. In one case the arguments involved arrears which were to be paid from house money held in escrow. The problem arising from the fact that there wasn't enough money in escrow to satisfy all of the bills plus the arrears and have either party walk out with any additional funds. The second case involved a maintenance award of a few hundred dollars a month which amounted to less than the cost of a trial if the issue needed to be pursued, and the third involved a couple who made no money between them and were arguing over who would get to keep which over mortgaged asset.

Luckily each case had adversaries who felt as I did that a trial on these issues would not resolve either of our client's woes and in fact increase their legal obligations to us to numbers which would assure we would never get paid for the work we would need to do.

In each case I explained to my client the cost of the additional litigation which would be needed to have a judge decide the issue and in each case it was noted that the cost of the litigation far exceeded the expected result. How much justice can one afford is usually the ending questioning here and even if you can afford it, is the price and the ongoing litigation worth it? To some the answer is clearly yes, and I know many attorneys who would not even give their clients a real choice but merely push for the fee and move toward trial. Frankly, I am tired of not getting paid for my efforts. One case in particular where I felt very sorry for my client and worked and worked on the case without pushing for a payment plan and never stopped work because of the bill ended up with a debt of over $12000.00. The client's son was in my child's class and the case so outraged me that I continued on it and to this day the mother has failed to make a dent in the bill at all. I am tired of hearing the line "you know my situation" Well guess what? They should also know my situation, I need to pay my bills as well and can't do that if I continually work for free. As I have said in my posts many times, the number of individuals who expect lawyers to take cases for free boggles my mind. Especially when financial times hard, I have heard from fellow practitioners that they are also experiencing the same entitlement mentality from new incoming clients. Sorry this is not a pro bono business, we are not a not for profit organization. If you can't afford to continue to a trial you had better consider a settlement and move on with life.