In my latest book “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color, with the American Justice System”, I have described how a lawsuit can negatively impact the person bringing the lawsuit.
I had filed a lawsuit to teach the defendant a lesson and to restore my harmed reputation. Little did I realize that in declaring war on my opponent, I was also declaring war on myself! I had no idea as to the true financial costs of legal action; the tremendous distress of depositions; the motions your opponent’s lawyer can file or the claims they can level against you. In doing so, they added plenty of insult to the initial injury. So often during this lawsuit, I felt as though I WAS THE ONE BEING SUED!!!
I had no idea that the courts would allow defendant’s lawyers to use a lot of unrelated info against me in this lawsuit. I was taken by great surprise when defendant’s lawyer filed the motion to compel a forensic examination of my communication devices; as well as the subsequent discovery requests seeking unlimited access to documents from every employer or organization I have ever been associated with! Though my lawyer made efforts to counter these attacks, I had no clue that the lawyer of the person you are suing can hassle you with demands for so much irrelevant information. And according to the rules of a lawsuit, it was perfectly OK for them to do so!
It was good to find out at the end that the appellate judges eventually didn’t focus on all those irrelevant discussions promoted by the defense lawyers. But all those irrelevant discussions do have an impact on you. And if the case was allowed to go to a jury trial, such irrelevant information could have negatively impacted some of the jurors.
There’s a saying that all is fair in love and war. It seems the same applies to a lawsuit. Be forewarned it could be as awful or worse on you as it will be on the person(s) you are suing!