What Happened That Was Such A Big Deal?

August 8, 2012 was a day I will never forget and leading up to it, we had sought prayers for strength. Our friends really came through but it caused many to wonder if there was some life-threatening illness or some other life-altering event. So, here's what happened;

I (as President of my corporation) had initiated a lawsuit against a former Landlord (of the business) and August 8 was the hearing. The judge ruled against my corporation, but allowed my corporation to be compensated, minus some deductions and held that my corporation was responsible for attorney fees and costs of the defendant. So, the defendant got my corporation's property (over $30k worth of equipment) at no cost to them.

I'm not writing this to complain about the finding, but to let people know some things you should be aware of before pursuing any litigation.

1. The law can be on your side and you still lose. According to my Attorney, the law was on our side yet the judge still ruled against us.
2. The judge you get can be clueless as to the applicable laws. In our case, one judge heard all the preliminary arguments and pre-trial motions, but retired at the end of July. So, the judge who heard the case was new to the case and didn't even know the definition of some of the legal terms our side used. This may be due to our judge coming from a family court background instead of civil litigation.
3. If you are going to go all the way to trial, you should be prepared to be called every name you can think of and you should expect the person doing the name-calling to do so with great conviction. Put on your thick skin or you will feel great pain.
4. The legal system is nothing but a game to most of those who live within that system (read; lawyers and judges). Most don't really care what you like/don't like, think/don't think of them and they'll smile and give a polite "nice to meet you" while plotting the moment they'll put the knife in your heart and twist it. At the end, the judge will likely thank both sides (no matter how disgustingly dishonest they are) for their "professionalism."
5. Even when you believe you are right, when everyone tells you that you're doing the right thing, seriously evaluate whether or not you want to go down this road. Even if you win, you may not recover everything you asked for and if you lose, it can be devastating.

In our case, the judge selected certain documents to rely on, but then didn't rely on everything in/not in the documents. He said he was not relying on testimony (after about eight hours of testimony and extensive pre-trial depositions).

As this chapter in my life closes, I pray for guidance and strength going forward. My hope for anyone reading this is that you never have the experience I did.