The Lawsuit Threat

The availability of information about your financial matters creates potential dangers from a variety of sources. The actual degree of threat to you may be high or low depending upon your business and personal circumstances.

We can see that the threshold issue of every lawsuit—can this defendant pay up—is now resolved quickly and inexpensively. Real estate and bank accounts scattered around the country are easily located in an asset search. Before, a lawyer had to do a lot of digging and ask plenty of questions to make sure the potential defendant had enough money to make the case worthwhile. If there was any uncertainty about collecting the judgment, the lawsuit usually did not go forward. A lawyer would tell his prospective client, "Bring me some evidence that he has money, then I’ll file the case." The process of gathering accurate information often took months or years, and the lawyer or the client might lose interest and move on to other things. A lack of reliable information slowed the speed of the litigation freight train.

But now the attorney can make a call to the investigator or can contact the look-up service directly to produce a comprehensive asset report on real estate holdings, financial accounts, and business ownership. Questions about whether a potential defendant can pay are now resolved quickly and efficiently.