When you’re running a small business, you’re so busy with managing employees and meeting payroll that the last thing on your mind is a lawsuit. Of course, when that happens it can bring everything to a grinding halt. Handling legal entanglements can drag on for years and can put you in lot of financial trouble. It is in your best interest to know beforehand what you can and cannot do when you are faced with lawsuits. Here are some suggestions to help you calm your nerves in that situation and deal with the issue at hand.
Read Through Everything
Take a deep breath and start at the first page of the papers that you been served. Read it thoroughly. There will be a lot of legalese to get through, but take it one point at a time. Legal papers are very organized, and lay out the situation point-by-point. The complaint that the plaintiff has with your company will be specifically stated there. Make sure you understand it. Then read through everything again to make sure you haven’t missed any important details.
Make Sure You Were Served Correctly
The law is very specific about how court papers are served to the parties involved. In some jurisdictions, lawsuit papers have to be served by hand. Other locations allow for papers to be served through the mail.
Those serving papers must also meet certain legal qualifications. Take note of exactly how you received your documents because if they were served incorrectly you can use that to gain more time to respond if needed.
Verify the Names
Errors occur when it comes to names on legal paperwork. For example, if the name of your company isn’t properly named in the lawsuit, the plaintiff is required to have it corrected. Verify all the spellings of your name and your business. Be sure it doesn’t name someone else or a different business with a similar spelling.
Stay Calm
Lawsuits are no fun, but they’re also not harbingers of the end of the world or your days as a business person. It could even prove to be an opportunity in disguise for you and your business. This could lead to some necessary changes that in the long run will make your business more stable and possibly even more productive. In the meantime, stay calm and take some time to fully assess the situation.
Contact a Lawyer
If you and your business are facing a lawsuit you’re going to want to have a professional representing you, someone like corporate law professional Steven Guynn, for example. Even if you end up settling out of court, a lawyer will be able to give you vital information, not to mention help you win your case. Call the lawyer as soon as you can since the more time he has to prepare a response the better job he will be able to do on your behalf.
Lawsuits are no fun, but unfortunately they are often part of the business. They don’t don’t necessarily ruin your business, however. Keep calm, read the documents and contact a lawyer and chances are things will return to business as usual in due time.
staying calm in these situations is a real tough task to accomplish in these situations.
But, if one can manage to do so, he can come up with better solutions to the problems.
Thanks for the informative post.