Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York
Defense of an unfounded claim
In an attempt to resolve a real estate commission dispute with a past agent, we filed for Arbitration with the AAA. The respondent refused. He wants to sue us for a commission from 2 years ago. He is clearly using the legal system in an attempt to get us to settle and give him some money rather then go through the expenses of litigation. He is asking for 44k. We claim we owe him nothing. Neither deal he is seeking payment on was in full contract when he left our company. We have letters from both buyers and sellers, as well as attorneys and mortgage brokers proving he had nothing to do with the negotiations or the closing of either deal. My question is, when he serves us with papers, and he will,he already has an attorney, do we have to hire and attorney, or can we represent ourselves? An attorney in this matter could cost us a great deal of money, we are a small real estate firm and do not have money to burn. Will our attempt to Arbitrate and his refusal to even give it a try prove his motive is not resolution, but to cause us a great deal of money and grief? Is there any protection under the law for a small business to claim harrassment? I appreciate your courtesy and respect your opinion.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Defense of an unfounded claim
Unfortunately, you will have to hire an attorney to represent you. However, did this employee have an employment contract with you stating that all matters in dispute would be arbitrated? I'd need to look at all the documents and your contract with him to give you a better answer. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss this further. I offer a free initial consultation.
Re: Defense of an unfounded claim
If you are an incorporated entity, you need a lawyer to appear for you. In our legal system, with relative impunity, people who have no valid claim can still sue another party. Unless you have a binding arbitration agreement, the ex-agent should not be bound to arbitrate.
If, as you say, you have a clear cut defense to the claim, you may want to move either to dismiss the action before filing an answer or, once you have answered the complaint, you can move for summary judgment. None of these motions is guaranteed to be successful but if any one is successful, then the plaintiff would have to appeal.
This is a general response to your question, without the benefit of having all of the facts.
Good luck.
Re: Defense of an unfounded claim
As stated by the responses of other attorneys, unfortunately, your firm -- if incorporated -- will need to be represented by an attorney. If, on the other hand, you are a partnership, you could represent yourself.
What you want to do is find an experienced commercial/business litigation firm, which would be willing to work for you at below market rates, in order to establish a business relationship on the hope/expectation of more business in the future. In that way, the law firm would be using this particular matter as a "loss-leader" to begin a mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationship.
Also, you might want to pre-empt matters a bit by having your counsel contact the opposing counsel and reminding him of his responsibility to file suit only based on a thorough investigation of all facts and upon good faith. Absent compliance with these requirements, the counsel should be advised, will force you to move for sanctions for an improperly filed suit.
-- Kenneth J. Ashman; Ashman Law Offices, LLC; www.lawyers.com/alo
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