LEGAL - Court Matters and Litigation
Order of Display : 3
We offer a FREE SERVICE (DONATIONS APPRECIATED) whereby we ask you to outline your case and we refer it to excellent attorneys who will evaluate it and give you a reply and at least suggest the right direction so that you have a good idea of the implications you face. They are objective because they are not allowed to take on the case. They will give you both sides of the story. Here is what we suggest when dealing with law:
RULE 1 : STAY OUT OF COURT. A DAY IN HIGH COURT will cost you more than R20 000 per day.
RULE 2 : TRY TO SETTLE YOUR DISPUTES YOURSELF
RULE 3 : IF YOU GET INVOLVED IN A LEGAL CASE it is going to cost you much more than you think.
RULE 4 : IT IS GOING TO TAKE MUCH LONGER than you would have ever planned. You may not even recover your money.
RULE 5 : The Attorney will most likely be paid whether you win or loose.
An average attorney normally charges R1500 per hour and they may even charge R1500 per hour for an INTERN.
RULE 6 : Try to work on a NO WIN NO PAY BASIS where the attorney will normally negotiated a figure of 25% of the winnings.
RULE 7 : Use an attorney in the town where the case is being held. Just a trip to Riversdale can cost you R1500 or a trip to George can cost you R4500 and then you still have to pay legal fees.
A Stibaai person was recently involved in a case where a contract came into dispute for an amount of R300 000. The case has now been closed after two years and two months. The legal fees were close to R240 000 and the amount recovered was R180 000. So the overall loss was about R360 000.
Most Attorneys cost a substantial amount of money and you cannot tell how many hours they are spending on your case each day. It just adds up quickly.
If you have to go for legal litigation try to move to ARBITRATION or MEDIATION as quickly as you can. One also finds that dishonesty is common in legal battles and Magistrates often have to decide which party is not telling the truth even though Affidavits have been signed. When there is money involved people behave differently. The LAW itself can also be difficult to understand and interpret so one needs advice.
But please keep your eye on ongoing costs.
We recommend attorneys in Riversdale who are close to the Magistrates court who specialise in court matters.
If your case is going to be heard in George the use a specialist litigation attorney from George.
WE MUST EMPHASISE AGAIN THAT YOU SHOULD TRY TO STAY OUT OF COURT because winning is NOT A GUARANTEED RESULT and the costs will escalate quickly. You could become so engrossed by the "fight" that you forget about the costs and please remember that if you lose you will pay your attorney's costs plus probably your opponents costs over which you have little control.. The numbers can become scary very quickly.
Lastly keep communication with your attorney to ONLY WHAT IS REALLY NECESSARY as you will also pay for ALL COMMUNICATION with them be it face to face meetings, online meetings, all phones calls and all written communication which includes communication with your opponent's attorney and your opponent by your attorney. R12 000 in "one days work" is not unusual.
Whatever Attorney you use make sure you get at least 3 references on them and keep tight control of the process asking for regualar updates on costs.
Initially the process is often described as being simple and quick but often it turns into a "legal mess" which ends up costing you much more than planned(we are referring to litigation (in other words disputes that have to be heard by a magistrate or judge in a court.
We cannot emphasise enough the need to proceed very carefully and although they appear to be regulated and they quote hourly rates you have absolutely no control over how many hours are allocated to your case which is completely unregulated.
We suggest you phone in for guidance if you are unsure of your situation. We cannot act as legal professional but we can suggest a path which will probably lead to the least risk.