Some regulars here may recall that I have alluded to a legal case the spousette took on in 2009 (eight years ago next month!) that started out as a minor dust-up with a truly trivial sum at issue, and then grew to devour her entire practice. Other, paying, business dried up as she fought the case, taking adverse decisions from administrative hearings (“This is bullshit!”) to the district court (“More bullshit”) and finally to the Ninth Circuit where, a few years ago now, she prevailed (“Yay!”). Then came the issue of attorney fees. The other side’s opening offer was basically for cabfare back from the Ninth Circuit. She’s been litigating this since 2014. After much wrangling and, it must be said, gleeful case-churning by the other side’s legal team, the exasperated district court judge sent it to mediation. By this time, L’s clients, not to say L herself, are pretty tuckered out, so the final settlement, which might have been truly substantial if relitigated through the end of the decade, was not all it might have been. Indeed, her share of the proceeds, amortized over eight years, seems like approximately what she might have made altogether had she “grown” her practice during this period rather than letting it practically die. I should note that business has picked up noticeably since the Ninth Circuit ruling was published, and that the firms she comes up against now understand that, as she puts it, “I can’t be rolled,” and are accordingly more disposed to settle.
Still, the check, received in the mail yesterday, bears a much, much larger figure than any I have ever physically handled before. I’m quite proud of the spousette, who was up against two well-heeled, abundantly staffed law firms, one of which is known, in L’s rather specialized corner of the law, for playing hardball (that one ultimately got fired, and it was the second firm that came to the table for mediation) with no clerical support and no resources of her own apart from my occasional services as courier. As to the other side, this publicly-funded entity, in contesting a pretty minor initial sum(“We need to make an example of [the plaintiffs]” read one memo that surfaced during discovery), has ended paying out in total over two hundred times that amount to its own lawyers and to us. I’m pleased to report that three fairly senior figures in that outfit got the axe over issues raised during the extended set-to.
We dined out last night.
cordially,
EDIT: When I alluded to this at breakfast, the spousette informed me that I misremembered. While “making an example” was certainly their approach, this was not committed to writing. “If they had been stupid enough to put that in a memo,” she said, “you’d be retired by now.”
Still, the check, received in the mail yesterday, bears a much, much larger figure than any I have ever physically handled before. I’m quite proud of the spousette, who was up against two well-heeled, abundantly staffed law firms, one of which is known, in L’s rather specialized corner of the law, for playing hardball (that one ultimately got fired, and it was the second firm that came to the table for mediation) with no clerical support and no resources of her own apart from my occasional services as courier. As to the other side, this publicly-funded entity, in contesting a pretty minor initial sum
We dined out last night.
cordially,
EDIT: When I alluded to this at breakfast, the spousette informed me that I misremembered. While “making an example” was certainly their approach, this was not committed to writing. “If they had been stupid enough to put that in a memo,” she said, “you’d be retired by now.”