6 ms·

You may want to consult with a lawyer. This is starting to sound like extortion.

• abrookewood 2y ago
  It is absolutely extortion. What a bunch of arseholes. I can't believe they even suggested that.
• throwway120385 2y ago
  100% this. You'd be surprised what kinds of problems go away when you mention your lawyer casually or you have a lawyer send a letter. Even if you don't get the right kind of lawyer right away, they might be able to recommend someone or tell you how to research the right kind of lawyer to get ahold of. Professionals are usually helpful about those kinds of things. Also get a second or third opinion. I've sometimes gotten different answers from different lawyers about our prospects of success on things we've called about.
  • dylan604 2y ago
    Don't mention a lawyer casually. Just have the lawyer send a letter. Don't give them the option to call your bluff. People casually mention a lawyer so frequently it means nothing. Receiving a letter from an actual lawyer means everything.
    • zcrossing 2y ago
      [flagged]
      • SteveNuts 2y ago
        The one time I mentioned getting a lawyer over a grievance with a car dealership, the customer service people immediately stopped talking to me and said all further communication goes through their lawyers. Whoops
        • mingus88 2y ago
          That’s the only reasonable thing to do in their position. Anything you say from there can and will be used against you. It’s also the best way for any customer service rep to eject from an unpleasant exchange. 100% done with you; lawyers problem now.
          • namaria 2y ago
            Yeah, lawyering up works best in silence. Don't announce it, especially if you won't actually do it. That's just a double defeat, you show your hand in advance and they get defensive.
      • timewizard 2y ago
        It's all fun and games until you're called into a deposition.
    • Aurornis 2y ago
      Having a lawyer send a letter isn't an automatic win. Once you turn it into a legal threat you force them to escalate to their legal team. Reasonable lawyers would likely roll their eyes and talk the university back from this weird move, but you're not guaranteed reasonable lawyers on the other end. If they feel threatened they might start looking even deeper into into contracts you signed as a way to protect themselves or as legal leverage to silence you with further threats. I've witnessed a couple cases where things went from hiring a lawyer, to sending a letter, to a stalemate where legal bills started getting so expensive that the only winners were the lawyers. When you're dealing with a big bureaucracy you can't count on them giving up at the first sight of a letter from a lawyer. The legal route also takes time and locks any further conversations into the speed of both sides' lawyers. Time matters in this case because this student needs to get registered for classes, so anything that could stall that process needs to be weighed carefully. I wouldn't be surprised if this issue magically goes away as soon as the publicity comes around to local news media and/or some alumni with connections.
      • dylan604 2y ago
        Once lawyers are involved, they are always going to be the only winners.
        • eru 2y ago
          What makes you think so?
          • j45 2y ago
            When lawyers are paid hourly to talk to each other on behalf of their clients, sometimes the bill can get sky high if not managed.
          • dylan604 2y ago
            Because even if you "win", you now have all of those lovely legal bills that the lawyer sends you. If you loose, you now have all of those lovely legal bills that the lawyer sends you. So the lawyer wins either way.
    • DennisP 2y ago
      That might be the way to bet but casually mentioning a lawyer once worked for me on a used car warranty claim. I didn't make any threats, I just said "my mechanic says X and my lawyer says Y" and they said we'll call you back, which they did in ten minutes and said I was covered after all.
      • dylan604 2y ago
        If that's actually what your lawyer says, then there's nothing wrong with that, but if you don't have a lawyer and they call your bluff, you're worse off than before you ran your mouth. So it's not really too much different than me telling about that one time I was in Vegas and I rolled a seven.
        • DennisP 2y ago
          I had a buddy who was a lawyer, who spent a few minutes looking over the contract as a favor. There was no bet for them to call since I wasn't threatening action, just pointing out what the contract actually said (which my buddy confirmed for me). It was under a thousand bucks so I could have just taken them to small claims court if they didn't fold. That may have worked in my favor.
        • throwway120385 2y ago
          So you just have to make sure you actually talk to a lawyer before you talk to anyone else.
    • eru 2y ago
      Yes, you don't mention a lawyer, casually or otherwise. What you do is keep a paper trail, and optionally 'casually' notify the other party of said paper trail collection.
• j45 2y ago
  Definitely doesn’t hurt to get opinions when the other side has hundreds of resources and billions of dollars.