After reading Tom Giesken on Knowing When to Litigate, a Billboard Insider reader asks:

I would love to hear some stories of when operators regret suing, Is it both an economic question AND a right or wrong question each time?  

Out of home attorney Richard Hamlin or Hamlin|Cody responds:

Carl von Clausewitz once said, “War is diplomacy by other means.” A lawsuit is negotiation by other means. Before litigating:

• You must have a clear idea of your minimum goals;
• You must have a realistic view of what you can achieve in the litigation;
• You must be aware of the non-financial costs — including lost time, lost focus on other projects, and (unless you thrive on conflict) stress over an uncertain outcome;
• You need to have a realistic sense of how long it will take to reach a result (in the Los Angeles, CA area, it is taking a eighteen months to two years to get to trial — an appeal can add a like amount of time before you have a decision);
• You must realize that no matter how strong your case, the result is never certain; the best you can hope for before a decision is an opinion that you have a strong case and will probably win;
• You need to be prepared to pay more in fees and costs than you expect.

To paraphrase a lyric from The Gambler, “You have to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to bet your cards and when to walk away.” Even if you end up financially whole, including attorney fees and out-of-pocket costs, you will never recover the time you spend focusing on the lawsuit instead of your business projects. Despite that, there are occasions when the only way to negotiate is through a lawsuit.

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