Why are u all sueing all these companies?

It is painfully obvious to me that you've never sued a big company. Or even a small company.

In another life, I was a paralegal for 10 years, mainly on the defense side in civil suits. I spent a lot of time doing trial prep, and a lot of time in court rooms. I even thought about going to law school, but the longer I did that job, the less I wanted to, because out of the hundreds of lawyers I dealt with over the years, I only met about four of them who were decent people. I only say this so you'll understand that I actually know what I'm talking about based on experience, not just from reading about it or seeing it on TV.

First, it costs money to file a lawsuit. Oh, no big deal, maybe a hundred bucks for a filing fee, and some more money to get a process server to serve the suit properly. Hmmm, are you sure you know who to serve? Better do some research. Might take you a few hours to figure it all out. And you might have to serve them in another state. I'll leave it up to you to figure out whether that's the state where they're headquartered, or the state where they're incorporated, or at their registered agent in Delaware.

OK, whew! You got them served and their lawyer has contacted you and acknowledged service. Now you just go down to the judge and tell them your story and collect your money, right?

Oh ####, that lawyer just sent you a ton of paperwork. An answer to the complaint with something called counterclaims alleging you negligently damaged their equipment and killed the stray dog that lived in the yard at the terminal and who was the company mascot! Also, there's something called a motion to change venue to that other state 1000 miles away where their headquarters is located, because that's where you went to orientation. I mean, isn't that why you're asking for reimbursement for the bus ticket back home? Now you've got to file an answer to their counterclaims, and file an answer to their motion for change of venue.

But it's ok, you've got time. Sure, you've found another job and you're running out your 70-hour clock every week, but you're young and have boundless energy, right? And you can get your new company to route you back through to South Sioux City when it's time to show up in court once the change of venue has been granted, right? And the laws and rules in Nebraska can't be that different from the state where you originally filed and did all your initial research, can they?

So a couple of months pass, you fight through the b.s. of getting up to speed on the new venue and refiling everything, and now that pesky lawyer keeps sending you all kinds of paperwork called interrogatories and requests for production and requests for admission that you have to answer within 30 days. Then you figure out you probably should be doing the same thing to him, so you figure out how to do that, sort of. Thankfully by now you've got the proper formatting saved in your computer, so it only takes four or five hours to create those documents and print them out and send them by certified mail. And it only takes another five or ten hours to answer all those questions they sent.

You think, "Big time money, here I come! Wait till the judge and the jury hear my story! They're definitely going to punish these evildoers for false advertising!!!"

Oh #### what now. "Notice of Deposition"? You have to be at the lawyer's office in South Sioux City next week to answer questions? It's going to take a day? Maybe two? Welp, better get ahold of dispatch to let them know so they can start routing you that way. And if they can't, that nice lawyer on the other side will be real courteous and make time for you in his busy schedule to move it to another, more convenient time.

Wait, maybe you should be taking depositions of all those recruiters and dispatchers and safety people and mechanics that lied to you! Sure, why not? I mean, you've got a couple of weeks of vacation you can spend on that, don't you? And some savings to pay the court reporter to record all the proceedings and print out transcripts, right?

Finally, after a year of discovery, you're ready to go to trial! Let's get the judge to schedule it! Wait, what's that? The next trial date available is eight months from now? Are you sure your new company is going to like it if you go in with a bunch of demands to get routed through South Sioux City when the time comes, especially since they've been running you mostly Northeast to Southeast and back? (Plus, you've got this new lawsuit against the last company for lying to you about hometime and paying Practical Miles, so you're going to have to get routed back through Tennessee eventually too.)

But you're no quitter! The other side has never offered any kind of settlement other than to dismiss their counterclaims if you drop the lawsuit, which is insulting! (And everyone on the internet agrees that it's insulting!) So you end up having to resign your new job so you can get to Nebraska for the trial. It's the principle of the thing, right? Sure, you can only technically prove damages of $1,500, but you've claimed $100,000 in damages and you're sure that the jury will go ahead and award punitive damages, possibly in the millions!

So two years after you filed your lawsuit, the glorious day finally comes when you will get a jury of your peers to hear your complaints against this evil company. The jury pool is kind of small, because it turns out half the people sent a summons for jury duty skip out, and half of them that show up have rehearsed their reasons to tell the judge why they can't serve on a jury, and half of the remainder either work for or have a relative that works for the evil company you are suing. Oh well, that's not a good enough reason to exclude them all. They say they won't be biased, and you only get three peremptory challenges, so it looks like the guy who is the brother-in-law of the operations manager at EvilCo. is in. Too bad, too, since he carries himself well and speaks well. Better hope the other jurors don't elect him foreperson.

And so the trial begins. For some reason, the judge keeps interrupting you to remind you that the recordings of your phone calls with dispatch aren't admissible. (Make sure to mark down when that happened, for your federal civil rights suit against the judge!) And your pictures of your log graphs aren't admissible, either, because you don't have a way to authenticate them, and how many times does he have to remind you of his previous rulings on this subject? And a couple of the critical witnesses haven't shown up, and you forgot to make sure you had good service of the subpoenas, and now you're looking at their deposition transcript and it seems you forgot to ask the exact question you should have, so that's done.

And suddenly, your trial is over in under two hours. And the jury takes all of fifteen minutes to come back and find for the defendant. Next thing you know, bang! The gavel comes down and you now legally owe EvilCo. $3,000 in damages for the repairs to their tractor that you turned in, plus interest.

OK, Bud, I've got it, you say. I won't try to do it myself. I'll hire a lawyer to do it for me! No charge unless I win!

Great. Just remember, that lawyer has been to this rodeo a hundred times or more, and he already knows it's going to end this way, so he won't take your case, because it will be his time and money he's losing instead of yours.

So you try another lawyer. And another. And they all turn you down. Even the guy with the hammer won't talk to you.

But at least those guys on the internet will agree this company is evil and should be sued into oblivion. That should make you feel better.

 

Holy Batman!

Straight up SAVAGE!!!! I like that!

 

Not trying to be a jerk. I just hate it when people waste their time and mental energy imagining they're going to get something out of using the courts to remedy minor injustices.

If you are physically injured and can't work, absolutely hire a lawyer. If your family member is killed by someone else's negligence, hire a lawyer.

If you're just irritated that big companies treat people like idiots and routinely screw them out of small amounts (under $5000), good luck getting your money back. You're probably better off writing it off as a learning experience, which is painful, but less painful than holding a grudge and spending a ton of energy fantasizing about the courts making it right. That's for movies and TV shows, not real life.

The reality of getting help for a small amount is that it's unlikely, it will take a long time, it will be expensive in terms of time and money. I like to encourage people to spend their time and energy making their actual reality better.

 

I totally agree. Its easier to walk away. We're talking a couple hundred bucks lost, not a couple hundred thousand lost.

 

^^WHAT HE SAID!^^

 

This is the most crybaby thing I've ever seen posted. Sue them for what? Doing what all trucking companies do? Why are there so many sue happy entitled divas in this society? Jesus Christ man. I think somewhere along the way, so many new drivers forget that this is a business. You do what you have to do bring in drivers, you do what you have to do to keep drivers, most importantly, you do what's best for best for business. Newsflash, those promises aren't always what's best for business. Sue companies for false advertising lmao

 

You say you were a paralegal in another life.
I don’t believe you!

I think you were a murderer in another life, cuz you just murdered this thread!

 

Call the Heavy Hitters every other TV add up here in the land of Cheese.

 

This post and post #21 are probably the two best things I've seen on TTR in a long time. Great job.
I have two lawyers in my immediate family and reading your post was like listening to them talk.

 

True. When you get tired of being screwed by a company you can join a union and get screwed by them for a while. I suppose there is some excitement in getting hammered by someone new for a while anyway...