Quote:
Originally Posted by Chimera
Lawyer will be worth it even if you settle. If anything happens in the future you want legal paperwork on your side.
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Knowing there's a very real probability that he'll recover nothing, how much money should the OP fork over to a lawyer. Give me a dollar figure. As a general reference, a typical retainer for ten hours of work...that includes time spent writing letters, doing research on similar cases, and any time he spends speaking with you on the phone or in person...is $2,500.
That money is gone in about two or three weeks, and way before any substantive negotiations take place. In the event no settlement is reached and it's necessary to litigate the case to verdict, even a simple case with one or two expert witnesses costs $25,000 to present.
Meanwhile, he can't drive the car anymore. The car itself and the engine specifically is evidence, so it needs to sit idle until the case is resolved, but he'll need to continue making payments of course.
It's very easy to tell someone to lawyer up, and in certain cases it might make sense. For example, if the shop left the oil drain plug out and the engine seized, but the shop denied liability, you'd have no choice but to get representation. In this case, at least so far, he's got very little to go on.