|
Archive for the ‘Self-Help Law’ Category
Circumstantial Evidence Traps
How to Dodge a Lawsuit !
There are several ways to dodge a lawsuit.
Whether you’re a plaintiff or defendant, you must know what defendants can do to dodge a lawsuit. How to dodge, if you’re a defendant. How to stop the defendant from dodging, if you’re a plaintiff. In this Tips & Tactics, I share a few dodge tricks below. The complete details are yours in my affordable 24-hour step-by-step Jurisdictionary course. People tell us an 8th grader can understand my course in 24 hours. If a defendant is served with a complaint, he may be able to dodge the lawsuit by filing motions to avoid filing an Answer! This tactic is sometimes called the flurry of motions. However! Once a defendant files an Answer, he’s locked in and misses this chance to dodge the lawsuit. Inexperienced lawyers and pro se people (who don’t yet have my Jurisdictionary course) make a common mistake and file an Answer to the plaintiff’s Complaint … instead of using the flurry of motions my course explains:
Each of these motions postpones the necessity of filing an Answer to the plaintiff’s Complaint … and gains you valuable time and evidence-gathering opportunities! In some cases it puts an end to the case. Period! Here are just a few points you absolutely must know. Motion to Dismiss: There are several grounds for filing this motion. Here are a few. The rest are in my course.
The last of these is the most common! If you don’t yet understand causes of action and their elements, you are not yet ready to win in court. The most important piece of knowledge you can learn about lawsuits is that they proceed on one or more causes of action, and each cause of action has certain required elements that must be alleged and ultimately proven. Each is fully explained in my course. Motion to Strike: The following are a few of the many grounds for filing this motion:
The first of these is very powerful and is sometimes called a Motion to Strike Sham Pleading. Know them all, however. Motion for More Definite Statement: This motion should be filed when a Complaint is so poorly-written that a reasonable person would have difficulty understanding what it says, i.e., what the plaintiff is complaining about. The court cannot require you to file an Answer if the Complaint is so poorly-written that no reasonable person could discern what the plaintiff is saying. For example, I’ve filed this motion when sentences in the Complaint had no verb! If you are sued, do NOT file an Answer until you use all these motions that apply to the circumstances! Failure to use the Flurry of Motions weakens your case and, of course, misses a valuable opportunity to dodge the case altogether. Of course you cannot learn all you need to know about the Flurry of Motions or the other case-winning tactics my affordable Jurisdictionary course explains step-by-step in just 24-hours, but this week’s Tips & Tactics gives you an idea what you’ll be missing if you don’t order now. Whether plaintiff or defendant, you cannot hope to win if you don’t know what my course teaches. These tips should convince you to order my complete course … whether you’re a plaintiff or defendant. My affordable Jurisdictionary course explains how to use the Flurry of Motions as a defendant to dodge the plaintiff’s attack and how to defend against the motions if you’re the plaintiff. If you don’t know what opportunities you have in court, you don’t have much of a chance of winning! Even if you fail at dodging the case altogether, there are many positive advantages to making the attempt. By following the Jurisdictionary method explained clearly in my affordable 24-hour step-by-step course, you force the other side to show his hand while running a good chance of dodging the case altogether! Let me urge you to order my course today (if you don’t already have it) so you won’t make the common mistake of assuming you already know everything you need to win! Never file an answer if you don’t have to! Remember: Winners are people who know how the game is played to win — and that includes knowing how to use and respond to the Flurry of Motions — whether you’re a plaintiff or defendant. My affordable 24-hour step-by-step lawsuit self-help course includes:
Still Only $249 (plus $7.50 for Priority Mail S&H) Control judges! Save legal fees! Defeat crooked lawyers! Ask anyone who has it: Jurisdictionary Works! Call Toll Free for details: 866-Law-Easy Get your competitive edge before the price increase. Force judges to enforce the rules, instead of allowing the lawyer on the other side twist the law against you! You cannot win if you don’t know how to control the judge and all the lawyers (including your own lawyer, if you can afford to pay one to go to court for you)! You’ve heard the horror stories from others. Don’t let it happen to you! Order my course now, if you don’t already have it. Know the rules and how to force everyone to obey! Know how to draft proper pleadings, how to get your own evidence in the court’s record, how to keep the other side from getting their evidence in, how to move the court to enter orders favorable to your cause, and how to use your Jurisdictionary legal know-how and case-winning strategies to control the judge and win your case! My self-help course is presented in such an easy format people tell us an 8th grader can learn it in just 24 hours! Know what you must know to win! Stop courtroom corruption! I’ll show you how in just 24-hours … step-by-step! Control judges and lawyers – or lose! My “Tips & Tactics” newsletters are only introductions to the complete course you need to win. If you don’t already have my 24-hour step-by-step self-help course, go to my website and order now!
As Woody Guthrie used to sing, “This Land is our Land,” and that includes every courtroom and every courthouse from San Diego to Bangor, Maine. Why let lawyers control our lives with trickery? Why let judges destroy our lives by letting lawyers get away with their trickery? YOU CAN WIN! Forward this newsletter to ALL YOUR FRIENDS! If you aren’t involved in a lawsuit or threatened with one today, learn what my course teaches and help others who will be destroyed by all-too-common courtroom corruption if YOU don’t help them learn what it takes to win! There are more than 150 lawsuits filed every minute in the United States – nearly 100 million each year. Try to imagine how many thousands of good, honest people will be destroyed in the next 7 days just because they have no idea how to protect themselves and have nobody they can trust (or afford) to help them win! Urge everyone to get my affordable 24-hour course! Do it for your nation … and for your children! Dr. Frederick David Graves, JD
|
Lawsuit Anatomy
| Start to learn lawsuit anatomy by spelling: CAT.
Here are the 3 basic steps of every lawsuit.
Start here, and you’ll soon be operating like a pro in court, controlling judges and defeating crooked lawyers. Of course, there’s much more to winning, but it’s all easy if you start with basic anatomy: CAT. C = Complaint … Where every case begins. Plaintiff complains by filing a Complaint. He alleges (1) what duty the defendant breached, (2) how the defendant breached the duty, and (3) how the plaintiff suffered damages (or is threatened with damages) as a direct result. A = Answer … Where defendant responds to plaintiff’s Complaint by filing an Answer and Affirmative Defenses. In his Answer he admits or denies (or claims he lacks enough knowledge to admit or deny) each separate allegation of the plaintiff’s Complaint. In his Affirmative Defenses he alleges facts that (if he can prove them) will relieve him of his obligation to plaintiff. T = Trial … Where the judge (or jury) decides the final verdict by examining admissible evidence, using plain old common sense to decide which facts presented are true, weighing each side’s evidence to see which side has the greater weight of evidence, and then applying the law to determine who wins. Plaintiffs file Complaints. Defendants file Answers. Judges and juries examine the facts and law at trial to decide who wins. During the process Motions and Discovery Tools are used by both sides to convince the court who should win. This is where the fight is – not at trial. Every winnable case can be won before trial, if you use my case-winning tactics. It’s all explained in my affordable Jurisdictionary course. You can learn it all step-by-step in just 24-hours. For example, there are 3 Motions the defendant can use to avoid filing an answer:
After plaintiff files his Complaint, defendant may file any one or all of these motions so he need not answer. If the “flurry of motions” fails, defendant must file an Answer to the complaint – at which time he must also file Affirmative Cefenses, possibly adding counter-claims, cross-claims, or third-party complaints. (All explained in my course.) At any time after the Complaint is filed, either side may use these 5 discovery tools to get facts that may lead to admissible evidence:
Knowing how to use discovery tools (and how to force your opponent to respond truthfully) is essential if you want to win! (All explained in my affordable course.) Lawyers typically play every dirty trick in the book to keep you from getting the evidence you need into the court’s record, so you mustknow how to fight back! That’s the Anatomy of Every Lawsuit! Yes! It really is this simple! If you want to make it complicated and muddy the pond with all kinds of nutty arguments, you can do so and lose. If you want to win, get my affordable Jurisdictionary step-by-step 24-hour course now and master the case-winning strategies and tactics I used for 25 years as a case-winning lawyer in state and federal courts. Every lawsuit has this same fundamental anatomy. The same motions. The same discovery tools. Do you need to win your lawsuit? If you have your own lawyer, know what your lawyer should be doing to earn his fee and win your case. If you don’t have a lawyer, know what you must do to make the judge do his job and prevent the other side from cheating. It’s just that simple. My affordable Jurisdictionary 24-hour step-by-step lawsuit course will show you how to write powerful pleadings, how to draft and argue motions, how to object in court, how to get admissible evidence into the record, how to prevent the other side from getting lies into the record, how to do legal research, how to compose your legal arguments, and much, much more. You’ll learn how to avoid filing an answer by moving the court to dismiss or strike the complaint or require a confusing or poorly-worded complaint to be re-written. You’ll learn how to use effective discovery tools to force the other side to produce facts that may lead to admissible evidence. You’ll discover how to move the court and demand that the judge enforce your legal rights. In short, you’ll learn how to save money, maximize your winning power, and resolve conflicts peacefully and profitably … according to the rules! ________________________________________ Once you master the simple concepts I teach, you’ll be more powerful than most lawyers I met in 25 years as a licensed lawyer in state and federal courts as a licensed bar attorney! Of course you cannot learn all you need to know about what it takes to win by waiting for my Tips & Tactics each week. You need to learn the case-winning tactics in my affordable Jurisdictionary course that will show you what it takes to win, step-by-step in just 24-hours. Whether plaintiff or defendant, you cannot hope to win if you don’t know what my course teaches. These tips should convince you to order my complete course … whether you’re a plaintiff or defendant. If you don’t know what opportunities you have in court, you don’t have much of a chance of winning! Let me urge you to order my course today (if you don’t already have it) so you won’t make the common mistake of assuming you already know everything you need to win! Remember: Winners are people who know how the game is played to win — whether plaintiff or defendant. – – – – – – – The essential tools and elements are explained in the video you can watch right now by clicking the judge. Click the Judge to learn more. You won’t believe me, but most lawyers (and nearly all law school professors) don’t have a clue what it takes to win. Many law schools don’t teach “causes of action” or the elements necessary to prevail. It’s true! Many law schools don’t teach how to use your five (5) discovery tools or why you must be courageous and fight the judge and demand your right to get evidence in the record using your discovery tools. Many lawyers are afraid to upset judges, so they let things slide. They don’t object. They don’t “instruct” the judge on the law. They just lay back, take their hourly fee, and let their clients lose … and those who pay lawyers yet don’t know what Jurisdictionary teaches about winning are led to the slaughter by their own lawyer. Sad, but true! I know what it takes to win. I did this 25 years! My Jurisdictionary will show you how in just 24-hours, step-by-step! The Jurisdictionary Method wins lawsuits! Watch my video and see for yourself how easy it is to use knowledge, stealth, and wisdom to win in court! See what’s important, what’s not, and how to focus all your energy where it belongs: getting court orders! If you gain from watching my video, please forward this newsletter to ALL YOUR FRIENDS by hitting “Forward” on your email program now. Or use this link to send an email to all your friends. You probably know people who need to knock down judges and overcome crooked lawyers and their dishonest tricks. They will thank you for turning them on to this! Or, do both! Forward this newsletter AND send emails to friendsfighting in court who desperately need to know how to win! Most lawyers never learn what Jurisdictionary makes so easy-to-learn. People have been telling me since I started Jurisdictionary in 1997 that, “Your course should be required in first year law school.” But, of course, that’s not likely to happen, because whatJurisdictionary shows you isn’t politically correct! I teach you how to control judges, instead of bowing to them, I I teach you how to overcome crooked lawyers and their all-too-common sneaky tricks! Political correctness prevents justice too often! Winning lawsuits is a brutal axe fight!
Thousands of people just like you are winning with my easy-to-learn 24-hour step-by-step course. Ask anyone who has my course.Everyone loves it! If you don’t know what my course teaches, you lose! End of story! Winners do what Jurisdictionary makes easy-to-learn and don’t wait until trial to get justice! Those who learn my affordable 24-hour step-by-step Jurisdictionary self-help course win … no matter how high the odds are stacked against them! Yes! Read the testimonials in the right column ⇒ Winners know how to fight to win! Losers believe internet fables. Losers get their legal education at the barbershop or on websites or expensive weekend seminars run by people who never practiced law, never went to law school, and don’t know mud from sand about rules or how to use them to control judges. Too many good folks believe mythological silver-bullet easy solutions to their legal problems and, as a result, are losing when they would be winning if they knew what I make so easy-to-learn in my Jurisdictionary course! The internet is infested with hare-brained schemes that sound too good to be true … and, like the old adage says, “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn’t.” Remember: The most dangerous falsehoods are ones we most want to believe! Why not learn from a real lawyer with nearly 25 years of case-winning experience? My course is not expensive! People who finish my course say an average 8th grader can learn it all in a single weekend. Please read the testimonials in the right column ⇒ If you have a lawyer, you will save thousands in legal fees by knowing what your lawyer should be doing, and at the same time you will maximize your chances for success by making certain your lawyer does what should be done, instead of taking you for a ride to the poorhouse – as happens to too many good people these days. If you don’t have a lawyer, you’ll know how to stop the opponent’s crooked tricks and control the judge! To learn more, go to: www.Jurisdictionary.com |
Your Most Valuable Legal Right …
|
How Much is Legal Advice Worth?
One of the winners of TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon is a new, yet to be launched, legal document web site called, Docracy, The idea is that members will contribute their legal documents to an open source site so that there would be a basis for comparison between "open source" documents and the document that the member needs for their business. The theory is that by comparing documents, with the document that the member has on hand, there would be a basis for comparison, resulting in an informed decision, without the cost or benefit of legal advice.
In this model, legal advice from an attorney is worth zero. The model is designed to eliminate the attorney from the transaction.
The idea was developed by mobile app developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson ,from Larva Labs, who were faced with signing an NDA with a client and were unsure of some of the terms and concluded that the cost of legal advice was either unnecessary or prohibitive.
This is another example of the resentment that the average consumer and small business person has towards the legal profession resulting in the rise of non-lawyer legal form web sites such as LegalZoom.
Another example of an open source legal document repository is Docstoc which we have used as a research source. It is useful for us, because as lawyers we understand what we are reading. I think simply accessing raw documents as a consumer would be a daunting exercise, although I am sure that many consumers and small business use the site.
The problem with any legal document web site as a source for creating binding legal documents is that the use of a particular clause may be rooted in case law in a particular jurisdiction.
Without understanding all of the implications of using particular language in an agreement, the "non-lawyer" moves into a danger zone, because he or she has no idea what they are signing.
A better alternative is a "self-help" book from Nolo that contains both legal forms and explanations of the implications of each clause, but that often involves reading and understanding a 300 page book, which is beyond the attention span of most consumers.
Another solution is an automated document with extensive help screens that explain the implications of choosing one clause over the other.
A third alternative, is to purchase "unbundled and limited legal services" from an on-line law firm for a fixed price with legal advice bundled into the transaction. In that case you get a certain level of accountability and guarantee that the legal advice is correct for the user’s individual situation.
See for example the firms listed at DirectLaw’s legal document portal , where you can access legal forms for free, or forms bundled with legal advice for a fixed fee.
You don’t get legal advice from a legal forms web site or a LegalZoom for that matter, which can be a major limitation depending on the complexity of the document or the transaction. Without annotations that explain the significance of particular language in an agreement, the non-lawyer is stumbling around in the dark.
Nolo is Acquired by Internet Brands as Part of Legal Roll Up
After 40 years of leading the self-help law movement, Nolo, is being acquired by Internet Brands an advertising driven Internet company. Nolo was created by two frustrated legal aid lawyers, Charles (Ed) Sherman and Ralph (Jake) Warner, who wanted to figure out a way to help the thousands of consumers with their legal problems who could not afford an attorney and were turned away by legal aid because their incomes were too high.
Based in Berkeley, California, the center of the counter cultural revolution of the 1960’s, Nolo assembled a group of radical lawyers, editors, and writers who were determined to do something about a broken legal system where 90% of the US middle class were priced out of the legal system. Championing legal reforms that would make the U.S. justice system accessible to everyone, the company has seen these reforms become mainstream in the US.
Courts now offer their own automated self-help legal forms, legal aid agencies publish state-wide legal information web sites and also distribute automated legal forms, legal form web sites give away legal forms for free as a way to generate traffic, small claims court limits have been raised in many states, and lawyers are delivering "unbundled legal services" and creating virtual law firms, figuring out ways to deliver legal services online for a fixed and affordable fee.
Its ironic that Nolo is being acquired by Internet Brands, for an amount rumored to be in the range of $20,970,000, by an advertising company that is focused primarily on generating leads for law firms through their directories and advertising properties. How does self-help law fit into this business model?
The amount being paid is little more than one times revenue — not exactly a premium. Although, Nolo publishes Willmaker and several other excellent web-based legal software programs, it is still primarily a book publisher. In its hey day, before the Internet penetrated almost every household in America, Nolo self-help law books were the primary source for accurate do it yourself legal information and forms.
As the web expanded hundreds of legal information and legal form web sites also emerged, plus national brands such as LegalZoom. These web-based alternatives also provided legal solutions without the need to use a lawyer — the same need that Nolo was meeting. Except that instead of reading a 200-300 page book in order to get to a legal solution — web-based applications delivered a legal solution more efficiently, faster, and at less cost.
Nolo has migrated many of its legal forms online, too little and too late, and except for a few major products, non-automated forms. Here is another example of a print publisher whose business, despite the excellence of its product, has been eroded by the Internet.
It is well known that Nolo’s book business actually declined during this recession and growth has been flat. The fastest growing area of Nolo’s business is their Lawyer Directory. This is ironic for a company that prided itself in developing self-help legal solutions that don’t require the assistance of an attorney.
The challenge for Internet Brands will be to figure out how to unlock the assets buried within Nolo’s vast collection of self-help law books and turn these assets into web-based applications that can be distributed over the Internet. It remains to be seen whether the quality of Nolo’s self-help legal content will deteriorate under the management of an advertising-driven company that measures results in page views and unique visitors.
Internet Brands, previously a public company, was recently taken private private when it was acquired by Hellman & Friedman, a private equity firm, based in San Francisco, in December, 2010. Internet Brands has acquired over 70 vertical web sites in areas ranging from travel to cars to real estate. Internet Brands derives more than 70% of its revenues from advertising on its portfolio of web sites.
In December, 2010 Internet Brands also acquired ALLLAW.com , a consumer legal information portal and AttorneyLocate – an Attorney Directory Service. Both of these web sites are relatively weak properties. Compete.com shows that in March, 2011 Nolo had 498,769 unique visitors ( an 8% decline for the year), ALLLAW.com had 190,069 unique visitors, (for the of March, 2011); AttorneyLocate.com was especially weak with only 18,277 unique visitors (for the month of March, 2011). Internet Brands also owns ExpertHub, which in turn manages web sites in verticals markets such as dentists, plastic surgery, accountants, tummy tuck, and of course lawyers. The ExpertHub site for lawyers only generates 96,289 unique visitors a month (March, 2011), so I wonder if that level of traffic is high enough to support their advertising rates.
There is irony in the fact that LegalZoom, a company that prides itself on offering legal solutions from a non-law firm generates more traffic than any of the sites mentioned above at 889,762 unique visitors in March, 2011, trailing only Findlaw and Lawyers.com, (both of which offer similar services as the Internet Brands properties). With the traffic that LegalZoom gets, maybe LegalZoom should consider creating their own lawyers directory for consumers who need just a bit of legal advice to go with their forms to keep them on the right track? I wonder what solos and small law firms would think if LegalZoom moved in that direction?.
It will be interesting to see how Internet Brands integrates these legal properties to leverage the assets in each acquisition as its tries to compete with the likes of Findlaw and Lawyers.com . It will also be interesting to see whether the quality of Nolo’s self help legal content deteriorates under the management of an advertising company that measures results in impressions, clicks, and unique visitors. If Jake Warner, the present CEO stays involved, I am sure the quality of Nolo’s products will remain "top of class."
It’s an odd mix, –the best in class self-help legal book publisher with an excellent reputation, with some less than best in class lawyer directories and a legal information web site. Only time will tell whether this combination will work. (Although Internet Brands may intend to run each of these properties as separate brands, which would help Nolo maintain the quality of it self help legal content).
The Law Wizard – from Great Britain
I discovered an interesting web site called The Law Wizard, still in beta, for pro se parties doing their own probate, in the United Kingdom. The site promises to offer a unique package of online interactive tools, guides and videos. The Probate Wizard is initially designed for individuals who want to probate their own estates, but the site states that the tools will be made available for law firms as well.
The site is scheduled for launch later n 2011. The site looks interesting because it combines a web-enabled document automation system with extensive video and other information guides that takes the user through a complicated process step by step. We will see more web sites like this, both in the legal form market space and the virtual law firm space.
