Never Trust a Lawyer | GTAMotorcycle.com

Never Trust a Lawyer

J

j2

Well-known member
I was meeting a friend who works downtown on the Tuesday after the labour day long weekend and was leaving the parking in 2 St Clair west when an *** in a Porsche backs out of a spot and hits me. I was stationary sitting in the que

I was on my vStrom and it fell over but I have side bars on it so no damage was done and I was fine, however I do have MX footpegs and they scraped his bumper. The guy was an arrogant little **** in his 30's and went off on a bit of a rant when he saw the damage but it was his fault and I was fine so we go on our way.

Monday I get a letter from him with a demand for $4200 to fix his car, apparently he's a partner at some law firm called ***** that are in that building and he tried to make it really intimidating.

Fortunatly I was able to get the footage from the camera at the parking booth this morning that shows him backing into me. What's the best way to handle this. Should to see if it goes to court and bring this as evidence, should I counter sue as its his fault, should I get a lawyer. I don't think he has a case at all, he's just trying to extort some money. I dont know what to do. I was thinking of just sending him a copy of the video and telling him to **** off otherwise I'll go to the police and file a complaint against him

I'm also wondering how he got my name and address. The only thing he could have had was my plate number. Can lawyers do a search of the MTO database to get my personal information?
 
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Tell him to go through insurance and they'll sort it out. You did nothing wrong so you have nothing to worry about (I only say this because you have the video).
 
Make a copy of the footage, mail it to him with letter politely instructing him to go fornicate himself.
 
j2 said:
I'm also wondering how he got my name and address. The only thing he could have had was my plate number. Can lawyers do a search of the MTO database to get my personal information?
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Lawyers know cops.
 
I'll tell you what I would do.

Ignore it. Its just a demand letter with about as much legal force as me writing to you on a napkin with a crayon that you owe me money.

Or just report the thing to insurance yourself, get your foot peg fixed at least.

I would NOT

a. respond to the letter
b. send him the tape ( but by all means send the insurance company the tape)
c. call the law society ( because this isn't an ethics issue.)
 
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This guy is not going to get any money out of you. Edit: scratch that, OpenGambit's advice is better. Question - if the OP gets served with a lawsuit, do they just forward that to their insurance company, or what?
 
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GayManLoveIsOK said:
well, he's saying it's over $1K of damage, you now have to report it to the collision center, no?
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The lawyer has to report it since he has over $1000 in damage. Then they call him to come in. At least that's what they told me at the collision centre when I was reporting the damage from someone doing essentially the same thing to me, only I was in a car and my damage was $4000 +.
 
I would go through insurance, get your biked checked over, and make sure you didn't twist your ankle or hurt your self due to the collision.

By going through insurance it will all be documented.
 
OpenGambit said:
I'll tell you what I would do.

Ignore it. Its just a demand letter with about as much legal force as me writing to you on a napkin with a crayon that you owe me money.

Or just report the thing to insurance yourself, get your foot peg fixed at least.

I would NOT

a. respond to the letter
b. send him the tape ( but by all means send the insurance company the tape)
c. call the law society ( because this isn't an ethics issue.)
Click to expand...

This plus report it to the police as everyone else said and tell them you did not think it was over $1000 damage till he told you.
If he wants to try to be a smart *** then put him legally in his place. I would definitely go over your bike with a fine tooth comb and report any damage you can find to your insurance company so they make a claim against his insurance.
 
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OpenGambit said:
I'll tell you what I would do.

Ignore it. Its just a demand letter with about as much legal force as me writing to you on a napkin with a crayon that you owe me money.

Or just report the thing to insurance yourself, get your foot peg fixed at least.

I would NOT

a. respond to the letter
b. send him the tape ( but by all means send the insurance company the tape)
c. call the law society ( because this isn't an ethics issue.)
Click to expand...

Would there be any way to entice the lawyer into pursuing the matter further against j2? Maybe if he's arrogant enough he will go as far as perjure himself and then j2 can unveil the video to lay the smack down on this clown?
 
fastar1 said:
Would there be any way to entice the lawyer into pursuing the matter further against j2? Maybe if he's arrogant enough he will go as far as perjure himself and then j2 can unveil the video to lay the smack down on this clown?
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i fully agree, getting a lawyer caught in a lie about who caused the accident would have been awesome, however it would be a waste of time. perjury is nothing nowadays, even in the court of law. catching a lawyer lying in trial would barely even get the JP's notice, let alone them doing more than slightly verbally berating the lawyer
 
OpenGambit said:
I'll tell you what I would do.

Ignore it. Its just a demand letter with about as much legal force as me writing to you on a napkin with a crayon that you owe me money.

Or just report the thing to insurance yourself, get your foot peg fixed at least.

I would NOT

a. respond to the letter
b. send him the tape ( but by all means send the insurance company the tape)
c. call the law society ( because this isn't an ethics issue.)
Click to expand...

Actually, it seems to me that it is an ethics issue, as LSUC cares about general conduct too; not just what happens professionally. I agree that sending him the tape and responding to the letter isn't necessary. I wouldn't report him to LSUC, unless the OP wishes to pursue this in a very real way. Giving it to his insurer, and reporting the incident to them, would both be a good idea. If Mr. Shyster has the contact info, then he can also easily get the insurance info. No need to find out about a false claim the hard way.
 
Nick_f said:
I would go through insurance, get your biked checked over, and make sure you didn't twist your ankle or hurt your self due to the collision.

By going through insurance it will all be documented.
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I would do the same, although won't the insurance company ask for a police report?

Anyways, that much damage (on his vehicle) would best go through your insurance company. If they deem that it's not your fault, he can go pound salt fighting your insurance company.
 
klr_guy said:
How is this not an ethics issue?
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Because sending a demand letter by itself is not unethical, he may have a different interpretation of the facts.

I am not going to get into a big debate about this, take my advice however you will.
 
According to the Op's post the guy was using his position to intimidate. Doesn't that become an ethics issue?
 
Doesn't seem like an ethical issue. If he used the firm's letter head then it might be. Skip the LSUC. Give it to insurance along with all the tapes... let them deal with it. Why stress yourself over something idiotic.
 
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