Did you ever threaten anyone with a lawsuit or that you will complain to the attorney general?

Been threatened. Never made the threat.

I was going to sue a dentist once but never followed through on it, now the jerk is in prison for drug offences. I should have done it when I had the chance.

Yes. After I left New York this spring, my landlord stalled about returning my deposit. After about three months, I threatened to contact the local office of the attorney general and initiate a suit. That got him to cough up the money right quick.

Yes. Years ago I won two aquarium filters on Ebay from the same seller. He took my money and never sent the items (that was before PayPal). I kept calling him and he said he had sent them. Then his number was disconnected. I filed a mail order fraud complaint with the Attorney General in Texas. They replied that the guy's store was closed up and he left town. With my money.

My fault actually. If I had paid attention to his feedback score which was bad I wouldn't have bid on the items. I always check that now before bidding.

Yes, and I was serious...and I did take them to court...and I won. It was an employment situation. I, also, did this with a storage company, and won. I don't make empty threats. Not my style.

> Yes, and I was serious...and I did take them to court...and I won.
> It was an employment situation. I, also, did this with a storage company,
> and won. I don't make empty threats. Not my style.

Also, so far as I know, it is illegal to threaten a lawsuit you don't intend to follow through on, with the intention of intimidating someone. Though how this might be enforced, I have no idea.

That doesn't even remotely seem like something that could possibly be illegal.

Yeah, I know. Like I said, I don't know how it might be enforced. But it is something I read in an info pamphlet about dealing with bill collectors.

Somehow i think it is comparable to threatening to call the cops. It can't possibly be illegal. Threatening to utilize the law???

> Somehow i think it is comparable to threatening to call the cops.
> It can't possibly be illegal. Threatening to utilize the law???

"with the intention of intimidating" I believe is how it was worded in the pamphlet I was perusing.

Also, I qualified my response with the phrase, "as far as I know". I always leave myself an escape route. I am as likely as anyone to stick my foot in my mouth every now and again...

Oh.

I think that even with the intention of intimidating, it seems like a rather harmless threat.

> Also, so far as I know, it is illegal to threaten
> a lawsuit you don't intend to follow through on,
> with the intention of intimidating someone. Though
> how this might be enforced, I have no idea.

That means you can sue people who have threatened to sue you but never went through with it.

> That means you can sue people who have threatened to sue you but never
> went through with it.
>
>


It would seem so, though I suppose it may depend on whether or not you can establish what the intent was and possibly if the person making the threat had legitimate grounds for a suit.

If the person did not have legitimate grounds for a suit, wouldn't the appropriate response be 'bring it on!'

Why should a person feel 'threatened' by a lawsuit that they know they would win?

> If the person did not have legitimate grounds for a suit, wouldn't
> the appropriate response be 'bring it on!'
>
> Why should a person feel 'threatened' by a lawsuit that they know
> they would win?

They might not know they would win. They might not realize there were no legitimate grounds. Who knows what what juries will do?


This is a little bit off topic, but about 7 or 8 years ago, a friend of mine was going through a very nasty divorce that he didn't want. His wife was dragging him into court every few months, trying to squeeze more child support and more spousal support out of him when he was already shelling out most of his paycheck in fees for her lawyer. Finally, his lawyer started a countersuit against her for using the legal system to harass him. About a week after she was served those papers, she fled the country.

That makes sense.

I have let someone know they are treading on thin ice legally and to be more attentive of their action because someone else may not do the same.

Its already against the law to file frivolous lawsuits, where you can get large fines for wasting the courts time. One of the Birthers recently had to learn that the hard way.

So I would imagine by extension, its illegal to threaten to file a frivolous lawsuit if the lawsuit itself would have been frivolous. The problem is, how do you know to begin with if the lawsuit will be a frivolous one or not before it has been filed an the person had made their arguments.

I guess its the same if I tell you that I will have you arrested for punching me in the face when you didn't, and tell you that the judge will believe me over you, even though you didn't file the fake police report yet. It would fall under the umbrella category of extortion.

No.

I hear this enough at work. People threatening to sue us for things that I'm sure have been gone over with a fine tooth comb by our legal department. Go for it, make our day

> No.
>
> I hear this enough at work. People threatening
> to sue us for things that I'm sure have been gone
> over with a fine tooth comb by our legal department.
> Go for it, make our day


People have nothing better to do.

It's true. They threaten to sue simply because things don't work the way they wanted them to.

Yes when Delta Airlines sold my seat to someone else, and left 10 min. before the plane I was in landed at the airport. They did not do this by accident. So the Delta employees had to listen to me rant and rave.