What to do when someone threatens you with legal action, a thread.

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“You’ll be hearing from my attorney.” “I’ve sent our conversation to our attorney.” “You had better stop doing/saying [x] or I will be consulting an attorney.” Those words are enough to send a chill through anyone, aren’t they?

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Disagreement is uncomfortable. And sometimes, in order to stop someone from doing or saying something they don’t like, or to force someone to do something or say something they want, a person will threaten legal action.

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Here are our tips for how to react (or NOT react!) when this happens to you.

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1. Don’t panic.

In order for a lawsuit to be commenced against you, you need to have done something illegal, or that harms another person’s reputation or financial interests.

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2. Understand your rights.

In most countries, you are guaranteed freedom of speech and thought, subject to certain limits.

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3. Reflect on what you said or did.

Having an opinion is not illegal. Asking a question is definitely not illegal. Saying something critical is not necessarily illegal.

Did you say something false or intentionally damaging to a person’s reputation?

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That could be grounds for defamation, yes. Did you say something that includes hate speech? There could be criminal consequences for speech defined as hate speech. However, most disagreements don’t rise to the level of hate speech or defamation.

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4. Intimidation and extortion are offences.

In some jurisdictions, intimidating someone in order to compel them from abstaining from something they have a legal right to do (or NOT do) or extorting them through a threat of legal action is a civil offence.

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Meaning that you can be made to pay costs (money) by the Judge to the other party.

Here’s a recent US case where threatening a lawsuit was ruled to cross a line and become extortionate: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michael-avenatti-nike-when-does-lawful-threat-cross-extortion-n987256

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5. Beware the SLAPP.

No, not that kind, we’re talking about a “strategic lawsuit against public participation,”

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SLAPP is where a person commences a legal action they have no intention of following through/winning, for the purposes of censoring/intimidating critics by saddling them with the heavy financial costs of participating in a lawsuit.

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In many jurisdictions, there are laws preventing SLAPPs from taking place.

Check out https://anti-slapp.org/what-is-a-slapp  for more information on SLAPPs in a US context.

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6. Vexatious or Frivolous Lawsuits

Those who file vexatious/frivolous lawsuits (where they know/ought to know there is no legal basis for the case to continue) can face legal consequences for continuing this behaviour.

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These consequences can include

- having restrictions placed on their ability to file further lawsuits (such as requiring the permission of a judge to file)

- being denied the ability to file any lawsuits.

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7. Trust in attorneys.

Yeah, yeah, we know (insert lawyer joke here), but it is against our professional code of ethics to commence a lawsuit where there are no grounds to do so, even if our clients really want us to.

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Trust that if a lawsuit is commenced, an attorney has thoroughly looked at the circumstances before doing so. If they have not, it can be grounds for attorney discipline in some jurisdictions.

TL/DR: worry about letters received from attorneys, not Twitter threats.

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8. If you hear from an attorney, find your own.

If you do hear from an attorney, it is likely that they found enough reasons to at least try to bring a lawsuit against you. There are many resources that can help you obtain legal aid either for free or at a reduced cost.

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US LSC Legal Aid Search Tool: https://www.lsc.gov/what-legal-aid/find-legal-aid

Gov of Canada (Contains links to Provincial/Territorial legal aid websites): https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/gov-gouv/aid-aide.html

*If you need help finding legal for another country you can DM us and we'll attempt to assist you.

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