Dopers, how can I get back at this b*tthole law firm?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A while back, I got a pack in the mail from a law firm. The mailing label had a “You are being sued” tag attached to it. I opened it and there were bundles of papers stapled together. Each bundle had about 250 names and addresses followed by an allegation their client was making. It concerned a plot of land nearby that hadn’t been developed yet. The plaintiff wanted to do something to the property that went against some sort of city ordinance. At the end of each bundle was gobbledygook about how the ordinance was made in the 60s, the original surveyors were no longer in business, and other vague BS couched in legal speak. I couldn’t understand what the issue was or why I was part of this lawsuit.

I contacted.a real estate law firm, and they had me scan the documents and send them via their email address. A rep called me and explained the plaintiff was trying to get around some city ordinances. He encouraged me to get together with neighbors and consider his law firm to represent us. I’m not into community organizing. I asked if I could just ignore it. He kept on the same line about getting his law firm involved. Slacker that I am, I decided to ignore it.

A month later, a sheriff’s deputy arrived at my doorstep with the same packet. Apparently I’m required to make a written statement of some sort. I still had no idea what the issue was or why it concerned me. I wrote a letter stating that I wasn’t part of any Homeowner’s Associations (the reason I moved to this neighborhood in the first place), and I didn’t understand why I was part of the lawsuit. I said that I opposed whatever the plaintiff was planning: not because of traffic or environmental concerns, but because he was being a huge pain in the ass.

Later I got a letter from another law firm. Apparently somebody in my neighborhood was more civic minded and had organized a neighborhood meeting. The letter was so much more simple and direct than the jumble of data I had gotten earlier. It explained that the plaintiff wanted to erect a 5-story apartment building, but the city regulations limited it to 3. The reason I was included in the lawsuit was because of city policy. In the absence of a HOA, the plaintiff had to notify everybody within a 1000 ft radius of the property. Slacker that I am, I didn’t go. I was satisfied to go with whatever my neighborhood decided.

The property is on the other side of the highway from my neighborhood, nestled between other apartment complexes and a mini industrial park. I drove there and looked. There’s a little dirt road reaching to a hill with a bunch of mossy trees. There’s already a fire hydrant there, as well as a giant spool of power cables. Looks like they got stopped doing construction right after it started.

Later, I got another packet in the mail. After wading through pages of names and addresses, the last page said the plaintiff was filing for an extension. This was followed by another packet of names and addresses, with the final page notifying that the law firm had complied with the previous notification. ARAGHH!

Recently, I got another letter from said law firm. At least it didn’t include 250 names and addresses. It said I could sign a waiver to be excluded from the lawsuit. I would like to do so. There’s no deadline of when I have to send the notarized form back, but I would like to do something as a “fuck you and the horse you rode on” gesture. Is there something unscrupulous but legal I can do? I could send a pic of me mooning them, but that would only inconvenience the temp opening the mail. I’m not much into social media, so I’m not familiar with how the kids do it.

2

It goes against your self-described (and completely reasonable) preferences for not wanting to expend much energy on this, but you could show up on the sidewalk at the law firm in unconventional garb/outlandish costume and a loudhailer to make some noise and explain to passersby the problem.

Heck, you could print in huge letters, maybe using their logo, the name of the law firm and paste it on a metal garbage can. You could then invite passersby to hit the can with a stick to indicate their sense of frustration with “lawyers.”

You can also prepare a statement to give to the law firm if they come out and ask what you’re doing, and to the media if you announce your intentions to the media first so they show up.

3

You should be asking for some money. They don’t need a waiver from you to exclude you from their lawsuit, they’re asking you to waive your right to object to their building.

4

You appear to be upset with the firm because they are following the requirement that you be notified and given a chance to object. I get pissed off by some ordinary things some times, but this seems like a rather odd thing to get your feathers ruffled about.

5

I get your frustration, but the law firm didn’t want to include you. They’d rather not have to hassle with notifying everyone within 1000 feet of their client’s project. It sounds like the city’s ordinance requires they mail you a copy of everything they were doing, until you opted out. The ordinance isn’t unreasonable either, as many people would like to know if someone is seeking a zoning variance near their home.

6

In other (more colloquial) words, “hating the player, not the game.”

OP, you’re involved. And you have a chance to not be involved. Take it.

7

Hey, the sheriff showed up at his door. That’s upsetting.

“I’d accept $500 to sign your stupid waiver”
They’ll leave you alone after that.

8

And if they agreed, that’s when you tell them you meant $500 per letter in your name.

9

As an example of the possible power you have in this situation: I know someone who was well paid for a tiny portion of his property in order for a large hotel to be built on adjoining property. I don’t know if he worked with several neighbors in the same situation but the result was him getting paid several times the current value of his land, the land taken had to remain undeveloped as part of a tree break hiding the developed area, and the hotel was required to maintain a privacy fence on the property line, including repairs and repainting. He gave up maybe 1500 sq. ft. of property, got a proportional cut in his property taxes, and the value of his property escalated.

10

I’d wonder why a notice “had a ‘You are being sued’ tag attached to it.”

I’d also be annoyed by the shyster who wanted to represent everyone involved when there was no actual law suit.

11

Yes. They had to do it.

12

yep … I would quiz them on that - if this was dishonest and/or misleading - and what the Bar Assoc. thinks about dishonesty and misleading communication of law firms…

This might get their attention - but shouldn’t expose you too much

13

IANAL, but if he were able to represent substantially everybody within the radius who could object to the variance that would allow the five-story building, he might be able to negotiate a fair bit of money for himself and the neighbors in order to tamp down any objections.

Is this good, fair, reasonable, or ethical? No comment :wink:

14

He also got a new neighbor…a large hotel, presumably with hundreds of cars arriving and departing 24 hours a day. For me, that’s not a good deal

We don’t know that there is no lawsuit. It sounds to me like the opposite is true; that’s why they’re asking him to sign a waiver of his right to participate in the suit objecting to the new building. The neighbors who do sign objections may well be filing a claim for financial compensation, claiming that the new building will lower their property values or whatever.

If I were the OP. I’d check very carefully what is going on.
Even if the new building is across the highway and far from his house, the new building there may increase traffic on his street or affect him in some way.

15

From the OP, it sounds like he is being sued, because he has to be.

This is different than the jurisdictions that I am experienced with, where the neighbors get notice only, and the town itself is the Defendant, but the process makes sense, as the neighbors are the ones that are going to be impacted most.

I guess I don’t understand this. If you call a lawyer and say, I have a grievance worth $500 with my neighbor, she’s going to tell you to get lost. If you tell the same lawyer that 50 of your neighbors all have the same grievance, then the lawyer might be interested in the case. Same idea here. No one neighbor is going to want to cover the legal fees to fight with the developer. But if you spread it around to all the neighbors that are impacted, it probably is going to make more financial sense.

16

Which is it? One second they just have to be notified in case they object, the next they’re being sued for living within 1000’ of a new development. I’d move somewhere sane.

17

It looks like the OP received 3 packets from the suing law firm. 1st (received 2 ways) was the original lawsuit, the 2nd a notice from the law firm about an extension (to some aspect of the lawsuit) and the 3rd, a waiver for the OP to sign if he wanted to be excluded from the lawsuit.

This seems rather routine given the circumstances. The only way this is different than something I have seen countless times is that the OP is an actual defendant. It hardly seems like something worth moving over, when OP can just sign the waiver.

18

All I know is my mama never raised no lawyers.

19

Did you see the part about the fence and the tree break? You wouldn’t know there was a hotel there from his property. You still might not like that but his property wasn’t going to sit there undeveloped, he was going to have some new neighbors one way or another, and this was a way where he profited.

20

It seems very odd to me and rather implausible that the developer could sue all of the neighbors, instead of just suing the town. I suspect somebody’s screwed up here – at least, unless the OP is on the town board or planning board. I got served once, as a town planning board member. I didn’t actually have to do anything about it though, it was all the town’s problem; and I couldn’t have signed anything to get the town out of it.

Another possibility is that they were just serving a notice to the neighbors that the development’s still at issue, but thought the threat of a lawsuit would keep people from throwing it straight in the recycle bin without looking. But if it’s the town being sued, a neighbor’s signature won’t count for the town.

I wouldn’t sign anything without consulting a lawyer.