Tag: client

Meeting a Lawyer: Four Things to Bring

An initial client meeting with a lawyer is a time of evaluation. You, the potential client, evaluate the lawyer to see if his or her firm will fight for your rights, while the lawyer evaluates your case to see if it is something the firm can help you with.

Here are four things to bring to your initial meeting to help it go well.

1.  Your Story.

The lawyer needs to know what has happened in order to evaluate the potential of your case, but if it takes an hour for you to tell your story, you’re using too much detail. You should prepare a short version of your story, one that gives an overview of the major points in less than 15 minutes. Don’t leave out any important elements, of course, but keep your story to the point. If the lawyer wants you to elaborate about something, he or she will ask.

2.  A Time Line.

In order to help yourself communicate clearly and efficiently, write down a brief time line of what happened. This will become vital information for your lawyer when he or she drafts pleadings, or legal documents that assert your claims. Example:

  • May 24, 2004 – signed lease with tenants
  • August-December 2004 – rent consistently late
  • January 2005 – no rent paid
  • February 1, 2005 – sent letter warning of eviction
  • February 15, 2005 – lockout on property

3.  Documents.

Depending on your type of case, you will need to have certain documents to prove your claims. However, it is generally a good idea to keep records of the following: correspondence, phone logs and voicemail logs, legal documents related to previous cases, medical records, contracts and leases, invoices and checks, bank statements, tax documents, insurance documents, employee manuals, wills, and closing documents. These papers could very well become evidence in your lawsuit. Bring them with you.

4.  Questions.

Naturally, you have questions about the process of retaining a lawyer. Do you really need a lawyer? How much does it cost to hire a lawyer? How long can you expect a lawsuit to last? How can Mosser Law PLLC help you? First, check out our FAQs page, and then come talk to us. You should leave an initial client meeting with all your questions answered.

As always, our blog posts are not legal advice and do not constitute an attorney-client relationship! At the end of the day, there’s no substitute for having a lawyer of your own.

A Short Introduction to Discovery

Discovery is why your civil lawsuit takes so long. It’s the cooperative process of exchanging information between parties in a lawsuit, which can take months or sometimes years. The purpose of discovery is so that a case can be judged fairly on the facts and not due to a “surprise” document that the opposing party withheld until the last minute.

Basically, discovery makes things fair.

Your attorney will request discovery from the opposing party. The opposing party will request discovery from your attorney. Legal rules called the Rules of Civil Procedure govern the timing and delivery of responses. As a client, you might be asked to help answer discovery questions from the other party or to give your attorney some documents to allow the other party to examine.

There are three main types of discovery requests that might require client input: requests for admission, requests for production, and interrogatories.

Requests for Admission. This type of discovery request comes in the form of statements that you must admit or deny. You can also say that you don’t know or don’t have enough information to answer the question. Here are examples:

  1. Admit or deny that you are the managing partner of Local Business.
  2. Admit or deny that Local Business signed a contract with Widget Corporation LLC on May 12, 2008.

Requests for Production. This type of discovery request is primarily for documents. You have probably given your attorney most of the documents related to your case, but the opposing party might ask for more.

  1. Produce all originals of and all copies of all contracts signed by you and Widget Corporation LLC since 2006.
  2. Produce all communication (including letters, emails, texts, and other electronic documents) between you and Widget Corporation LLC concerning contracts since 2006.

Interrogatories. This type of discovery request usually comes in the form of an open-ended request for information, requiring a response beyond a simple yes or no. You might initially be asked to answer these questions and then to approve the final answers your attorney has written.

  1. Describe the safety, storage, and maintenance methods and practices regarding Widgets that you maintained in your regular course of business.
  2. Identify all persons formerly or currently employed by you who have or might have knowledge of Widget safety procedures.

As you can see from these basic examples, discovery can become very involved. Your part is to be as forthright with your attorney as possible and to disclose all relevant information promptly to your attorney. He or she will very likely have additional instructions or requests for you to supplement discovery responses as your lawsuit progresses. If you ever have questions about your lawsuit, ask them!

Remember, folks, at the end of the day there’s no substitute for having a lawyer of your own.

As always, our blog posts are not legal advice and do not constitute an attorney-client relationship!

Statute of Limitations: The Expiration Date on Your Lawsuit

By:  Kelly R. Ledbetter

Let’s say you signed a contract to invest in a business, but the business was never launched and now they refuse to return your money. Can you sue? It all depends on how long it’s been.

The statute of limitations is the time limit you have to file a lawsuit. This time limit varies widely both among states and among reasons for filing (“causes of action” or claims). For instance, in Texas, the statute of limitations for breach of written contracts is four years, whereas the statute of limitations for property damage is only two years. In another state, those numbers will probably be completely different. Some causes of action even have periods as short as a one-year limitation. And of course, there can be a lot of caveats and exceptions—like claims that require notice to the defendant or to a government agency, or a “timeout” on the statute of limitations because the injury was undiscoverable.

Information about statutes of limitations in Texas can be found in Chapter 16 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, available through the Texas Constitution and Statutes home page. Here’s an example of causes of action that have a four-year statute of limitations:

FOUR-YEAR LIMITATIONS PERIOD. (a) A person must bring suit on the following actions not later than four years after the day the cause of action accrues: (1) specific performance of a contract for the conveyance of real property; (2) penalty or damages on the penal clause of a bond to convey real property; (3) debt; (4) fraud; or (5) breach of fiduciary duty. (b) A person must bring suit on the bond of an executor, administrator, or guardian not later than four years after the day of the death, resignation, removal, or discharge of the executor, administrator, or guardian. (c) A person must bring suit against his partner for a settlement of partnership accounts, and must bring an action on an open or stated account, or on a mutual and current account concerning the trade of merchandise between merchants or their agents or factors, not later than four years after the day that the cause of action accrues. For purposes of this subsection, the cause of action accrues on the day that the dealings in which the parties were interested together cease.

Confusing? A bit. This is why consulting an attorney even before you’re certain whether you have a case is important. Someone trained in the law, who is familiar with all the ins and outs of the statutes of limitations in your state, will readily be able to say whether your cause of action may has already expired.

Below are some helpful links with more information about statutes of limitations. These sites provide helpful information, but they have not been verified and they cannot take the place of the legal advice you can receive only from an attorney.

Read a full definition of “statute of limitations”  here.

NOLO, a free legal information website, offers a handy chart of states, causes of action, and statutes of limitations.

Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII) has a narrative example of a statute of limitations.

Wikipedia contains an overview and further links to statutes of limitations and related topics.

 

Remember folks, at the end of the day there’s no substitute for having a lawyer of your own.

And as always, our blog postings are not legal advice, nor do they constitute an attorney-client relationship!

Helping Clients Help Themselves

While attorneys will write almost all documents related to a client’s case, a client may be asked to take an active role in helping to draft an affidavit.

An affidavit is a written, factual statement signed by the person making it (the “affiant”) and sworn to be true before a notary. Affidavits have a number of purposes in litigation; they may be used to provide testimony when a live witness is not needed, they can demonstrate that a document is a true and correct copy of an original, and they can provide a lawyer with narrative about the facts of the case and the reason for the suit–the story of what happened. An affidavit can be attached to other documents filed with the court as evidence to strengthen your case, or it can become a helpful reference in your attorney’s files.

When utilizing an affidavit as the narrative for the case, the attorney might ask the client to use his or her own written words to describe who, what, when, where, how, and why–any information about the case. Remember that a specific, detailed piece of writing is typically more informative and persuasive than a vague one, so be sure to include dates, names, facts, and details.

Vague: And then the van rear-ended me and pushed me forward into the other car.

Specific: Even though I pulled my car as far onto the right-hand shoulder as possible, the dark blue minivan still clipped my back left wheel and bumper with enough force to propel my vehicle forward ten feet into the rear bumper of the red sedan in front of me.

Vague: He told me he didn’t get the check and I had to move out by the end of the month.

Specific: On May 3, 2012, Mr. Landlord told me in a telephone call that he had not received Check #1001 in the amount of $900.00 for my May rent and that therefore I had to move out of 202 North Street before May 31.

The attorney will then render the client’s testimony into the form and format of an affidavit, including an introductory paragraph declaring that the affiant is competent to testify, has personal knowledge of the facts, and swears that the facts are true. It is important never to invent or exaggerate information in an affidavit, yet it is equally important to include all the relevant information. The final document must be as factually accurate as possible.  Here is a sample affidavit, incorporating this advice.

After the client reviews the draft of the affidavit, perhaps contributing more knowledge, he or she will sign the document in person in front of a notary, who will notarize the document, making it a valid affidavit. It is critical that if the attorney has misquoted the client, or summarized something incorrectly, that the client speak up and correct the affidavit.

What does this mean for you?

If you are considering retaining an attorney, write down a narrative of what happened to you. This will not only help you remember and discuss your situation with precision, but it will also help your attorney know what questions to ask to elicit the best details for your affidavit.  When hiring a lawyer, make sure you find someone who is taking the time and effort to understand your story.  After a jury verdict is the wrong time to realize that your lawyer doesn’t understand your case!

Locked out? Late on rent payments? Out of Luck? Maybe not…

By:  Benjamin M. Tenenholtz

Almost everyone has months where money is tight. And as you may or may not know, if you’re late on rent payments for your rental home or apartment, you may find yourself locked out of your property. While your landlord has a right to lock you out if you don’t pay your rent, he must follow very specific rules in the Texas Property Code in order to lock out a tenant.

1.  Warning of the Lockout

If your landlord locks you out of your residence, he must post a notice on your front door which provides you with a 24-hour on-site location to access your new key, or a 24-hour phone number you can call to have a new key delivered within two hours. The landlord’s notice must also tell you the amount of late rent/charges and he must provide you a new key, at any hour, REGARDLESS of whether or not you pay the delinquent rent. It is important to know that your landlord cannot lock you out on a day on which a designated person is not available, or the on-site management office is not open, for you to pay the delinquent rent.

2.   Notice of Lockout and Legal Niceties

Additionally, your landlord cannot lock you out of your residence at all unless your lease agreement tells you that you can be locked out for failing to pay rent, and you are actually delinquent in paying your rent. In addition to these requirements, the landlord is required to provide a warning notice either: five days before the lockout by local mail, or three days before the lockout by hand-delivery or by posting on your main entry door. This notice should tell you the earliest date you may be locked out, the amount you must pay to prevent the lockout, the contact information for the individual or management office to discuss your rent, and tell you in underlined or bold print that you have a right to get a new key to your residence at any hour, REGARDLESS of whether you pay the delinquent rent.

3.  Remedy for Wrongful Lockout

If your landlord violates any of these laws, you have substantial rights to which you are entitled! You may either regain entry to your residence, or terminate the lease. In addition to these rights, you are entitled to recover a penalty from the landlord of $1,000, one month’s rent, actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees (minus the amount of delinquent rent). Additionally, if your landlord fails to give you a key after you request it, you may be entitled to another month’s rent.

Maybe most important to wrongfully locked out tenants… Your lease cannot waive any of these rights!

So in summary, remember these things:

  1. Warning of Lockout–it should come ahead of time in the mail or on your door or by personal delivery and include delinquent amounts and contact information
  2. Notice of Lockout–Posted on the door to the residence, including the delinquent rent amount but more importantly advising you that a key is available to you at any time, within 2 hours, regardless of your ability to pay the delinquent amounts
  3. Vindicating your Rights–Lockouts not done in strict accordance with the property code are subject to stiff civil penalties.  A lawyer can help you recover the damages and fines your landlord might owe you, but you probably still have to pay your rent.