# Legal strength of "If you fail to respond ..." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-strength-of-if-you-fail-to-respond/763136 "2016-08-18T00:50:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-strength-of-if-you-fail-to-respond/763136/21 "2016-08-21T03:48:30Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > In summary: the issue is what happens in a situation in which one party refuses to respond. Who “wins” - the person who refuses to respond, or the person seeking a response? Which party requires the response to be legally effective to “win”, if the party who refuses to respond continues to refuse? I don’t know why you think this makes the situations fundamentally different. Either way, either a legally enforceable situation has or has not been created. I don’t see why you consider that whether the sender or recipient is the one wishing to enforce make the two situations relevantly different. > [@bob\_2](#): > > If you abandoned your car on my drive, I would have to go through some legal process to have it removed. A letter sent to you, saying that if you failed to remove it within ten working days would be sufficient. Oh. Would it? Great. Because I’ve been practicing in this field for 25 years and at least in my jurisdiction I’ve had to give far more nuanced and less certain advice on this topic. But it’s great that I now have The Answer. Or to put it another way, perhaps in GQ you shouldn’t offer opinions as fact, the more so since unless I fail to recall correctly, you don’t have legal qualifications. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-strength-of-if-you-fail-to-respond/763136.md?page=1)