Any lawyers on here? Need feedback/advice

jasonward73
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814
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Location
West Palm Beach, FL US
So here is the background...

A neighbor of mine is a construction lawyer and is being sued (along with some other individuals) in a trust/estate dispute. In the legal docs I have seen, he is the sole trustee of 10s of millions of dollars but the manner in which he became the trustee is questionable... hence the lawsuit. This neighbor also happens to be the President of the HOA I live in and there is a movement in our community to unseat the entire HOA Board.

One of the residents (NOT ME) works in the local government and knows how to find shit. We are in FL and nearly everything is public record. So this resident found this lawsuit on our county's public records website and is in the process of deciding how to share these public records with the entire community for the purpose of allowing people to formulate their own opinion on whether or not this person should remain as our President. She has shared it with a few people. No commentary has been stated other than we can't believe this is going on. So one of the people this resident shared it with sent an email to the HOA Prez and simply asked "Hey, who is (one of the named defendants)?" This person is a real shit stirrer that loves to taunt people. The only issue is he only copied the person that obtained the info and me. Normally, he copies a few dozen people on his obnoxious emails. So the assumption the HOA Prez makes is that somehow I am involved. To be clear, I have zero involvement outside of being aware of what was found on our public website and being copied on the email.

The HOA Prez replied to the email stating "Be careful. You have no litigation privilege." then sent another email asking us to reply with "received" to confirm we are in receipt of the email. Of course, I ignored that email as I have no involvement other than being copied on the email. He later replied to all and stated "Please acknowledge receipt. You will already receive a letter, which went out today by certified mail. So the ten day period has already started."

If you are a lawyer and can explain what that means I would appreciate it. 10 day period for what? And what could I possibly be doing that is somehow put me in any legal jeopardy? I googled it and can't understand how this applies to me in any way. It is clear he doesn't want this to go public but I can't understand what he can do about it since it is already on the county website for anyone to see. You don't need to be a lawyer to get the legal docs. Anyone with an internet connection has access to it.

Any tips advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Piston Slap
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Stillwater, OK US
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6/23/2019 9:44am Edited Date/Time 6/23/2019 9:47am
I'd ignore the certified letter, but that's just me..

I would guess (just a guess) that you have 10 days in which to respond to a certified letter after receipt. ...but not sure.

Lots of lawyers blow a Lotta smoke to scare people.... from what you have said, I don't know what you have to be worried about, but dam sure don't let him bully you into something via email.

Make him serve whatever legal stuff he has that is so important through a process server.

If that happens, I would hire a lawyer. Your best shot is "it wasn't me, it was him".

Good luck
1
SEE ARE125
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TN US
6/23/2019 10:34am
What leg does he have to stand on for anything? Probably some cease and desist letter, but not sure how he can ask you to stop looking him up on the internet. lol A quick google search says “litigation privilege” can only be claimed on documents that are confidential, and what you guys found is public record, so I don’t see him have any grounds to claim litigation privilege. I’m no lawyer, but I think 99% of being a good one is the ability to intimidate people into doing what you want, and the other 1% is knowing the law.
3
Brad460
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Richfield, WI US
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6/23/2019 1:05pm Edited Date/Time 6/23/2019 1:13pm
I would email him and tell him to fuck off and quit harassing you and to never contact you again....Ask for a reply with a “received” as receipt of your email to him....He clearly has something to hide and won’t push it any further.

What is public is public...You have done nothing wrong or illegal, but clearly he has you concerned...time to push back.

My prior neighbors and I fought a local lawyer/developer/alderman to stop a fucked up development he was looking to build by our old house. He threatened us with some bullshit legal action if we tried to stop him..I sent the asshole a “public records request “ for all his emails (because he was an alderman). Must have been something he didn’t want us to see in those emails because he quickly stalled any talk of the development- that was 6 years ago. Nothing was ever built.

As said above, 99% of being a good lawyer is intimidating others...don’t be easily intimidated.
3
6/23/2019 1:11pm
So the guy gets pissy because someone found him named as a defendant in a lawsuit that is public record? And that douche emails the guy and cc’s you and says look what we found? Sounds like our home builder LOL.
1

The Shop

KMC440
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7764
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US
6/23/2019 1:39pm
The e-mail letter means nothing. Even he knows that. What he's pimping for is to pressure you into his side of the argument. While he may have a ligitimate argument his tactics of bullying others to his side will not work.
1
jasonward73
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Location
West Palm Beach, FL US
6/23/2019 1:44pm
Yeah, I did consider the guy a good neighbor and borderline friend until recently. This position of President has brought to light some very undesirable character traits. And then he comes at me with this bullshit and I'm like WTF?

I did reach out to an acquaintance of mine that is a pretty big shot lawyer and he was kind enough to take the time to hear me out and assure me of essentially what everyone has said here as well as what I initially thought. Basically, it is public and I can tape this shit to my mailbox if I want to and there is nothing this bag of dicks can do about it. He also told me to accept the letter and text him a copy. He offered to write the response letter to him at no charge. He said this guy is trying some bullshit lawyer intimidation crap and he can't stand it. Clearly, you can tell who is the stand-up attorney between these two guys.

If anyone else has any food for thought please add and thanks to those that already replied.
1
Falcon
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Menifee, CA US
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6/23/2019 2:06pm
He probably wants a receipt that you read whatever is in his email. This will give him legal proof of "acceptance" in any argument that later concerns you. I bet that if you read really clearly, there is some language that states, "unless you officially disagree within 10 days, you agree to the following." Asking you to confirm receipt would indicate that you read everything and agree. (Whatever it says in his letter.) If you want to disagree, you'd have to say so.

Your lawyer friend can give you far better advice, as I am not a lawyer. However, I think you should do as the friend says and have him write an official, lawyerly-worded letter that clearly tells the asshole just how many dicks to eat, at what time, and at the precise temperature for optimum flavor. Laughing

LaughingGrinning
5
jasonward73
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814
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West Palm Beach, FL US
6/23/2019 2:20pm
Falcon wrote:
He probably wants a receipt that you read whatever is in his email. This will give him legal proof of "acceptance" in any argument that later...
He probably wants a receipt that you read whatever is in his email. This will give him legal proof of "acceptance" in any argument that later concerns you. I bet that if you read really clearly, there is some language that states, "unless you officially disagree within 10 days, you agree to the following." Asking you to confirm receipt would indicate that you read everything and agree. (Whatever it says in his letter.) If you want to disagree, you'd have to say so.

Your lawyer friend can give you far better advice, as I am not a lawyer. However, I think you should do as the friend says and have him write an official, lawyerly-worded letter that clearly tells the asshole just how many dicks to eat, at what time, and at the precise temperature for optimum flavor. Laughing

LaughingGrinning
That made me laugh!!!
plowboy
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11664
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Location
Norwich, KS US
6/23/2019 4:01pm
Yeah, I did consider the guy a good neighbor and borderline friend until recently. This position of President has brought to light some very undesirable character...
Yeah, I did consider the guy a good neighbor and borderline friend until recently. This position of President has brought to light some very undesirable character traits. And then he comes at me with this bullshit and I'm like WTF?

I did reach out to an acquaintance of mine that is a pretty big shot lawyer and he was kind enough to take the time to hear me out and assure me of essentially what everyone has said here as well as what I initially thought. Basically, it is public and I can tape this shit to my mailbox if I want to and there is nothing this bag of dicks can do about it. He also told me to accept the letter and text him a copy. He offered to write the response letter to him at no charge. He said this guy is trying some bullshit lawyer intimidation crap and he can't stand it. Clearly, you can tell who is the stand-up attorney between these two guys.

If anyone else has any food for thought please add and thanks to those that already replied.
In my experience, the ONLY stand-up lawyer is the one YOU are paying...(or are friends with in this case).

Here's a case in point; My ex son-in-law threatened to kill everyone in my household. I recorded the whole phone conversation. I took it to the county seat, sheriff's department. They listened and called the district attorney. He listened and refused to grant a restraining order. Turns out, he also has a private law practice and the son-in-law was his client. I couldn't believe it was legal to have such a conflict of interest. I contacted the Kansas State Bureau of Investgation. They confirmed that it was legal in Kansas to be both DA and hold private practice.

The KSBI moved the jurisdiction to a neighboring county which granted my order.

Side note, the son-in-law remarried and sexually molested his 4 year old stepdaughter. He got 10 years probation because he pled guilty and the prisons are overcrowded....(happened in Texas). He's got another new wife with little kids who refuses to believe he ever could do such a thing...Fake news she says. Pray for those kids.
whyZ
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805
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Phoenix, AZ US
6/24/2019 9:24am
Appears to me the standards of the Moto-Creedo might be a suitable action.

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