Demand Letters

 

Many clients, wishing to cut the costs of their legal investment often ask the lawyer to send a letter demanding payment.  Often the client has some hope or belief that a letter from a 'lawyer' will have some additional effect as though such a letter is of equal importance as a judge's order.   While it may be wished to be true - it's not.  Very often, those letters go in the same circular file sitting alongside the desk as coupons or credit card offers.

 

This is not to say that making some sort of pre-suit demand is not important.  It is.  In fact, it's mandatory if you want to recover attorney's fees in a subsequent lawsuit.  (See generally Tex.Civ.Prac.&Rem. Code §38.001 et seq).  What most client's don't understand is the fact of sending an invoice normally satisfies the pre-suit demand requirement.  Better prepared clients have the attorney's fees provided for in their contract and no pre-suit notice needed (as the attorney's fees are provided for in the contract and not by statute).1

 

Nonetheless, sometimes clients still wish to have a demand letter sent first.  This may be as earlier said to cut cost or it can be to avoid further damaging a relationship by immediately moving to litigation. JH&A provides these services.  They can be on an al la carte hourly fee basis or as part of a litigation package - meaning they may be provided on an hourly basis, a contingency fee basis, or a mixture of both.  Pricing depends on the results of the Pre-Suit Evaluation.

 

If you would like to discuss initiating a collection lawsuit or just beginning with a pre-suit demand letter, call JH&A at the number below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 See Tatum v. Wells Fargo Home Mortg., Inc. ___ S.W. 3d ___ (Tex.App.---Houston [1st. Dist.] 2014)

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