Saturday, July 15, 2006
Settlement
Herein is the thrilling conclusion to my Bally saga. About 2 weeks before our case was to go to trial, I received a letter from Bally. The letter basically said that Bally was maintaining that my husband was a dead-beat liar, but they were willing to settle.
I had not intention of signing something that implied we had been dishonest (especially since doing so would make it seem like we filed a frivilous lawsuit. That could come back to haunt us later.) Anyway, I called the attorney listed on the letter and told him we would settle for court costs, a written apology and a promise not to bother us again. Bally agreed to those grounds and sent us what I like to think of as a lawyer's apology ("I'm sorry if you were upset by anything we did." Note that they never admitted that they did anything they should be sorry for.)
We decided to go with settlement mainly because it was easier for us. Although I feel we are fairly sympathetic, you never know how a judge will feel and the case basically comes down to who you believe. I am sure that Bally intended to lie in court -- they lied every single I talked with them. I dont' think they were planning on starting to tell the truth now.
The other consideration is actually collecting a judgment you win. You get a little piece of paper saying that Bally owes you a certain amount. After that it's up to you to actually get them to pay up.
There are definitely benefits to actually going to trial. For one thing, once a court (even a small claims court) in a state rules that Bally is doing something illegal, there is precedent on the books establishing that they are wrong. Bally has settled every case filed against them, which indicates to me that they are trying to prevent the establishment of bad precedent.
(Once again, nothing on this site is offered as legal advice.)
Good luck with your own suit. I intend to update the site from time to time with more resources and stories to help other people in similar situations. I know there are lots of you out there and I hope that my blog has been an encouragement.
I had not intention of signing something that implied we had been dishonest (especially since doing so would make it seem like we filed a frivilous lawsuit. That could come back to haunt us later.) Anyway, I called the attorney listed on the letter and told him we would settle for court costs, a written apology and a promise not to bother us again. Bally agreed to those grounds and sent us what I like to think of as a lawyer's apology ("I'm sorry if you were upset by anything we did." Note that they never admitted that they did anything they should be sorry for.)
We decided to go with settlement mainly because it was easier for us. Although I feel we are fairly sympathetic, you never know how a judge will feel and the case basically comes down to who you believe. I am sure that Bally intended to lie in court -- they lied every single I talked with them. I dont' think they were planning on starting to tell the truth now.
The other consideration is actually collecting a judgment you win. You get a little piece of paper saying that Bally owes you a certain amount. After that it's up to you to actually get them to pay up.
There are definitely benefits to actually going to trial. For one thing, once a court (even a small claims court) in a state rules that Bally is doing something illegal, there is precedent on the books establishing that they are wrong. Bally has settled every case filed against them, which indicates to me that they are trying to prevent the establishment of bad precedent.
(Once again, nothing on this site is offered as legal advice.)
Good luck with your own suit. I intend to update the site from time to time with more resources and stories to help other people in similar situations. I know there are lots of you out there and I hope that my blog has been an encouragement.
# posted by Ballys Stinks! @ 1:49 PM 
