Have you ever sued someone?

[wanderingback]

I think we found the world’s most incompetent contractor. So almost a year later of starting working with him for work that was supposed to take 1-3 months, and a looooomg list of fuck ups, we’ve talked to a lawyer and our plan is to sue.

Me and my partner are very forgiving and laid back so I never thought it’d get to this point, ugh.

So just got my curious how many people on here have ever sued someone.

[bronxgirl]

I answered yes, but I didn't really have much to do with it.

PDQ PDQ PDQ: My husband sued the city due to bad situation with the police (don't want to go into detail publicly). It was handled through lawyers and settled out of court. Actually, I just realized I answered the poll incorrectly. We technically didn't win, because we settled, but it felt like a win to us.

[circa1978]

No. I would have LOVED to sue the contractor for our kitchen for very similar reasons but both my ILs are attorneys and they recommended against it because they thought it wouldn't be worth it after all the legal fees.

[cattledogkisses]

No, although I had people tell me that I should have when I had a botched blood draw last year that resulted in a nerve injury (no permanent damage, although it took about 6-7 months to fully heal).

[lilypad1126]

I answered no, but it's really only b/c both my H and I are lawyers and the couple times we might have sued someone, we wrote a strongly worded letter and settled before we filed suit. By "we" I really mean my H did all the hard work, lol.

My dad sued someone in small claims court about 30 years ago when he (my dad) owned his own business and a client tried to not pay for a $$$$$$ project. It was worth it and my dad won. I don't actually know if my dad got much money from the client, but I was fascinated by the whole experience.

[scm1011]

Yes, I sued a neighbor when I broke my leg in 3 places on their icy sidewalk due to their negligence. It was pretty well documented here at the time (2009/2010). I settled and have zero regrets because they are total negligent assholes to this day.

[basilosaurus]

No, but close family members have. I considered small claims once but, as I was leaving the state, I just took the loss.

One family member was involved with a major co for a few years, as the victim, and ended up getting a decent settlement. It covered her massive costs (mostly medical) as a result of co's fault, plus some well deserved punitive damages (imo) but it was a very serious commitment of time and effort and traveling.

I fear forced arbitration which almost always sides with the company. That's how egregious my family member's situation was, that she got the settlement. It might be a fight for you. Fight, definitely, but it may be a slog. I fucking hate forced arbitration.

[mae0111]

I did sue 2 times after car accidents. I was not the driver in either case, and I was injured both times (broken bones, hospital stays, surgery). I was a minor the first time and the medical bills were overwhelming.

For this type of case, yes, sort of. In my state, there is a mediation process that you can go through when there's an issue with a contractor. If you win, and the contractor can't pay, there is a state-owned fund that you can apply to for reimbursement up to $10K.

In our case, DH paid the contractor a ton of money (without my knowledge) and the guy disappeared after ripping out our kitchen and leaving the debris in our garage. He charged us for a dumpster that never arrived, a custom window that he never ordered, and a ton of work that was never done. So after paying him, we had to pay another contractor to basically start from scratch.

This all happened during COVID, so the mediation process failed due to staffing, so we did technically sue. He never showed up to court, never acknowledged receipt of certified mail, dodged the sheriff that was trying to serve him. Ultimately, we won, we got $10K from the state (which was about 1/2 of what we were owed), and the state suspended his license and is going after him for the money.

Maybe your state has something similar? It was easier than a true lawsuit. It's not a well-known program in our state, I really had to dig to find it. And our case was pretty clear-cut - he disappeared, we had records of trying to contact him, he left tools at our house and never came back.

[wise_rita]

I have not but will be dutifully coming back here to read the stories of people who have.

[sometimesrunner]

scm1011, oh my gosh I remember this! I'm so glad you sued! I remember your post and LOTS of people discouraging you from suing and I thought I was crazy for disagreeing with people. (I was a true lurker back then, so I never posted) I'm glad you won!

[sugarbear1]

No, but I have been encouraged to sue twice. The first was the university where I worked. I went to my admin with a claim of sexual harassment (which was warranted; I had a list of everything the person had said or done to me over six months). The admin asked me to wait until basketball season was over. By then, the list had disappeared from my desk (it was hidden, but the person had plenty of access to my personal space).

The second time was the hospital after my son's birth. My c-section was traumatic but ultimately not life threatening.

[Deleted]

Yes in small claims. Ask me if I ever got my money tho... So did I really "win"? No.

[sometimesrunner]

wanderingback, you seem very laid-back, so if you're contemplating suing them, I'm guessing they deserve what they have coming.

[mcmel]

Currently for my dad’s Mesothelioma.

[erbear]

Semi-related:

@@@
Teenager


My nephew (now 18) is being sued by a kid who was playing against him in a soccer game and broke his leg on a tackle by my nephew. I've seen the video -- it's game play, not dirty, just a weird contact and very bad luck. He was 17 at the time. I obviously don't think this should go forward but I'm curious to see how it plays out from a legal perspective. I assume the family is hoping my sister's family will settle and throw them some money for medical bills (which their lawyer has advised against).

[scm1011]

Apr 17, 2023 13:11:43 GMT -5 sometimesrunner said:

scm1011 , oh my gosh I remember this! I'm so glad you sued! I remember your post and LOTS of people discouraging you from suing and I thought I was crazy for disagreeing with people. (I was a true lurker back then, so I never posted) I'm glad you won!

Honestly if they hadn't been total dicks to me that day and in the days that followed I probably wouldn't have sued (not sure if you remember but they left me screaming for help on the sidewalk in the cold with a mangled broken leg while they watched from the window). But yup, got a pretty decent payout several years later!

[skidunks]

We were sued when DH hit a cow while he was driving for Uber. The passengers that were in the car ended up suing both Uber/DH and the owner of the cow for injuries the sustained in the crash but it never went anywhere because they were never able to serve the owner of the cow any paperwork.

[fernweh]

Apr 17, 2023 13:20:05 GMT -5 erbear said:

Semi-related:

@@@
Teenager


My nephew (now 18) is being sued by a kid who was playing against him in a soccer game and broke his leg on a tackle by my nephew. I've seen the video -- it's game play, not dirty, just a weird contact and very bad luck. He was 17 at the time. I obviously don't think this should go forward but I'm curious to see how it plays out from a legal perspective. I assume the family is hoping my sister's family will settle and throw them some money for medical bills (which their lawyer has advised against).

I was sued as a teenager by someone who was injured in gym class. Totally normal play, just bad luck on their part. My parents homeowners insurance covered everything and I believe settled on my behalf. We didn’t have to pay anything out of pocket but the lawyers advice was if they go after/win more than the max insurance would cover I should
immediately file bankruptcy - thankfully it didn’t come to that.

ETA - it was actually do to faulty equipment.

[lucybrown]

Deleted.

[sometimesrunner]

Apr 17, 2023 13:33:13 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Apr 17, 2023 13:11:43 GMT -5 sometimesrunner said:

scm1011 , oh my gosh I remember this! I'm so glad you sued! I remember your post and LOTS of people discouraging you from suing and I thought I was crazy for disagreeing with people. (I was a true lurker back then, so I never posted) I'm glad you won!

Honestly if they hadn't been total dicks to me that day and in the days that followed I probably wouldn't have sued (not sure if you remember but they left me screaming for help on the sidewalk in the cold with a mangled broken leg while they watched from the window). But yup, got a pretty decent payout several years later!

WTF that is appalling. I really enjoy when shitty people get sued.

[MixedBerryJam]

We sued for adverse possession when neighbors moved a fence that had been in place for 30 years, and we won. They were total assholes about it or it wouldn’t have gone nearly as far as it did. They eventually moved the fence back to where it was and ceded to us the 18” by 100’ strip of land. That was an $8000 lesson they learned the hard way. I’m still salty about it. #noregerts

ETA Oh if we’re including work, I managed a small legal-adjacent business and one of my regular responsibilities was to sue clients (who were all lawyers) over unpaid bills. I never lost a case (there were maybe 8, max).

[meanie]

My H sued his former employer because they got him fired from a current employer. Very long awful story and they did a lot of other illegal crap but that was what we had the most solid proof of.

We settled for a decent amt of money but it was nothing life changing. We were mentally exhausted and just wanted to move on at that point.

[erbear]

Apr 17, 2023 13:47:12 GMT -5 fernweh said:

Apr 17, 2023 13:20:05 GMT -5 erbear said:

Semi-related:

@@@
Teenager


My nephew (now 18) is being sued by a kid who was playing against him in a soccer game and broke his leg on a tackle by my nephew. I've seen the video -- it's game play, not dirty, just a weird contact and very bad luck. He was 17 at the time. I obviously don't think this should go forward but I'm curious to see how it plays out from a legal perspective. I assume the family is hoping my sister's family will settle and throw them some money for medical bills (which their lawyer has advised against).

I was sued as a teenager by someone who was injured in gym class. Totally normal play, just bad luck on their part. My parents homeowners insurance covered everything and I believe settled on my behalf. We didn’t have to pay anything out of pocket but the lawyers advice was if they go after/win more than the max insurance would cover I should
immediately file bankruptcy - thankfully it didn’t come to that.

ETA - it was actually do to faulty equipment.

Yeah, I just don’t like the precedent. There is an inherent risk in competitive sports. It’s sucky but it’s not a legal matter, IMO

[womet]

I sued someone following a car accident. I had just gotten my license the day before and was leaving the mall after working there. The parking lot was empty since the mall had been closed for about an hour at that point. She was speeding in the parking lot and hit my car at a high rate of speed. I ended up needing knee surgery. We went to arbitration and the arbitrator found in my favor. It paid for my medical bills and gave me enough to buy myself a car.

[sent]

I researched into suing for what I felt was medical negligence in the first ER I visited when I had my huge medical issue 7 years ago. I still have a lot of functional losses that are never predicted to heal and I lost my career from that incident. One of our nice posters here put me in touch with a medical malpractice law firm in the region where everything happened and a lawyer from the firm wrote me a detailed reply about my situation. In summary, because I was smart enough to not die at the hands of the first ER's incompetent decisions, I wouldn't have much of a case to sue for anything. He said if I had died, I would have had a much stronger case.

I made peace with the issue and moved on with my life. 

Last year I served as an expert witness for a dental case that went to trial and it was a nothing case when it comes to injury compared to what I and the other posters have reported here. The plaintiff's dad was a lawyer so he knew how to work the courts to sue on behalf of his adult son in the first place. I was shocked at all the court resources and money spent in general to bring this case to trial. 

[wanderingback]

Apr 17, 2023 13:33:13 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Apr 17, 2023 13:11:43 GMT -5 sometimesrunner said:

scm1011 , oh my gosh I remember this! I'm so glad you sued! I remember your post and LOTS of people discouraging you from suing and I thought I was crazy for disagreeing with people. (I was a true lurker back then, so I never posted) I'm glad you won!

Honestly if they hadn't been total dicks to me that day and in the days that followed I probably wouldn't have sued (not sure if you remember but they left me screaming for help on the sidewalk in the cold with a mangled broken leg while they watched from the window). But yup, got a pretty decent payout several years later!

I’d like to think I’m a nice person anyway, but yeah we were always taught that as a doctor you’re probably going to get sued at some point but the research shows that being nice/having good rapport with your patients means you’re less likely to get sued. So always extra motivation for me to be nice

I feel the same way about the situation I’m in now!

[wanderingback]

Apr 17, 2023 13:13:08 GMT -5 sometimesrunner said:

wanderingback, you seem very laid-back, so if you're contemplating suing them, I'm guessing they deserve what they have coming.

Haha, I appreciate that.
I actually wanted to sue about 2 months ago and my partner can be even more laid back than me. But an incident happened about 3 weeks ago that was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I had to say enough is enough and my partner contacted a lawyer he knows that works in what we need the very next day.
Ugh. Why are people like this?!

[pinkdutchtulips]

Outside of my divorce no. 

When my uncle passed away, my aunt was encouraged to talk to me about the viability of a wrongful death suit (he passed away from meso, she was his much younger 2nd wife). I told her in my expereince, a suit like his would best be brought by his kids bc they could answer more question than she could. I told her that litigation can be time consuming and invasive, especially in the discovery process (no stone unturned and yes they'll ask about your 'relations'). She decided not to proceed. 

[BlondeSpiders]

Years before we met, my husband fell and broke something when visiting his uncle's home. His insurance company went after the uncle's homeowner's insurance and the uncle told everyone "J is suing me." Suffice to say, that relationship is dead.

[wise_rita]

Apr 17, 2023 13:43:28 GMT -5 skidunks said:

We were sued when DH hit a cow while he was driving for Uber. The passengers that were in the car ended up suing both Uber/DH and the owner of the cow for injuries the sustained in the crash but it never went anywhere because they were never able to serve the owner of the cow any paperwork.

Now THIS is the kind of content I'm here for!

Without the owner of the cow the case went nowhere?!  What exactly were they trying to serve the cow owner with?

I bet Uber offered no legal protection for your H the driver.  That's their whole schtick, cheaping out on the important things to offer a cheap product.