R. Shawn McBride recently spoke about settling cases early is smart in some instances.
Hey, folks, Shawn here with you and I want to talk to you about an important topic. It’s about why settling a lawsuit is a good option in many cases. I get clients that come to me and many of my clients are right. They’ve done the right things. I tend to work with very conscientious, forward-thinking people, and many of them have documented what they’ve agreed to, they’ve followed the letter of the agreement, and they’ve done the right things.
Some are investors. They’ve put money in and entrusted others with the money, but then bad things happen. Things go astray. Bad things happen where we end up in a bad situation. Many times if we had done a little advance planning, however, we could’ve put some more documentation and therefore, more protection. That’s why I like clients to come to me earlier because we can build for these things.
Many times clients come to me after the fact rather than before the fact. If we’d talked before transactions happen, we build safe fires in there that may avoid a lot of problems. So you spend a lot of money on the front rather than a lot on the back. But, you know, many times this is unavoidable. So you end up in a situation.
Things are unanticipated, maybe ownership shifts, somebody comes into a partnership or a company that wasn’t expected or somebody does something random. Then we’ve got a problem.
Many times it’s smart money to settle. It costs money to go after the right thing, and there can be a lot of money spent on what’s just and right. At some point, we’ve had to cut and make an economic decision. The owner’s time, the effort, and the energy that goes into litigation can be great and can be very costly, and sometimes the cost benefit of chasing down that last dollar is just not there. So sometimes it’s good money to settle and when I tell my clients this, a lot of them get in and they understand it because they’re busy business people. You don’t want to lose a lot of time and energy over the past. A lot of times people are talking about just cleaning up dollars. We can trade some dollars, settle earlier, rather than settle a lot of money on litigation and time and energy, so it’s just something to think about.
Sometimes settling is a smart option. Don’t take it off the table too soon. Think about whether that is a strategic option for you and look at the overall picture. We need to focus more on the economics and less on what’s right and wrong so we can get to the right place.
If you’re dealing with situations, running your business, and managing it, check out the McBride for Business blog or the McBride Attorney’s website.
Subscribe to the McBride for Business YouTube channel and the Facebook The R. Shawn McBride Law Fan page public. Sign up for both of those. You’ll see some great content there. There’s a business valuation checklist at McBride for Business and I want to know what I can do for you. Reach out to me. Let me know what situations you face. Let me know what content you need and I can build that into future videos. Of course, it may work into my speeches and other content that I do for people, but let me know how I can help you, whether it’s speaking somewhere, consulting, or some training. R. Shawn McBride, talk to you soon.
Each case is unique. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. This posting is intended to be a tool to familiarize readers with some of the issues discussed herein. This is not meant to be a comprehensive discussion and additional details should be discussed with your attorneys, accountants, consultants, bankers and other business planners who can provide advice for your circumstances. Each case is unique. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. This article should not be treated as legal advice to any person or entity. FreeImages.com Jason Morrison.
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