3 questions you must ask before filing any type of lawsuit
3 questions you must ask before filing any type of lawsuit
These three questions apply to any lawsuit – personal injury, consumer lawsuits, etc.
These are not all of the questions, but they are the most basic, big picture questions you must answer first.
- Did the defendant do anything wrong?
- Are you hurt or damaged?
- Does the defendant have money or insurance to pay for your damages?
Let’s look at each of these in more detail.
1. Did the defendant in this lawsuit do anything wrong?
The defendant has to have done something wrong. We cannot simply go after them because they have money or we have been hurt.
If they have done nothing wrong, the case can go no further.
They need to have done something wrong – negligence, recklessness, violation of the FDCPA, FCRA, etc.
If the defendant has done nothing wrong, you cannot proceed with your case.
2. Are you hurt or damaged?
Have you experienced physical, emotional, or economic damages from the event?
For instance, let’s say a UPS driver runs a red light and didn’t hit you.
The driver did something wrong but you may have no injury or damage from the event.
You have no case to file.
There are a few exceptions to this with certain types of federal claims. FDCPA, FCRA, RESPA, and TCPA have statutory damages that do not require you to be hurt first. These exceptions do require that the company violates the law.
As a result, you may be entitled to money.
3. Do they have money or insurance to pay for your damages after the lawsuit?
If they have no money to pay for your damages, the lawsuit would do no good.
You may get a default judgment saying you are owed money. But if there is no way to collect, this isn’t helpful.
This is why we need to know if there is a legally responsible party with money to pay.
We hope this is helpful to you!
If you live in Alabama and you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us.
We would be glad to help you in any way we can.
You can reach us by phone at 1-205-879-2447, or you can fill out a contact form and we will get in touch with you quickly.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!