Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Well, unfortunately, you are going to be stuck for some cost. In US law, they are, absolutely, entitled to charge, although, typically, case law and the courts regulate what those charges may be, how much can be charged (per page, etc.). I seriously doubt that even in the EuroZone, it's $0.50/page PLUS 90E per hour. That's daft.
I would suggest that your legal counsel speak to his. It's absurd for the Unk (In my brother in law's family, "uncles" are referred to as "The Unks," for a variety of horror-story reasons...) to hold you hostage. Nonetheless, you will be out some shekels.
This is one of the many reasons that in the olden days, I'd counsel folks who were ranting/raving about lawsuits that unless they had $50K USD to spend, BEFORE they got to the door of the courtroom, in discovery and other pre-trial expenses, not to bother suing.
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We know how expensive court cases can be. We've been through several rounds in the last four years and there are still several active.
We don't mind paying for the copying and the shipping, but the €1500 is beyond silly. My father called the solicitor and offered to have my uncle send in the papers to the solicitor and that my father and aunt will go there to copy/scan all the papers. However, the solicitor wanted to have one last go at trying to get my uncle to be reasonable and will invite him to the office (my uncle will probably claim travel expenses for the trip
), have him take the paperwork with him and try to reason with him. We already know that this won't work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Lawsuits are bloody expensive. If the only pre-trial cost you have, other than your legal fees, is this bit of discovery, I'd be thrilled for you.
ALSO: never take discovery direct from The Unk. It MUST go through his lawfirm. That costs HIM money, firstly (turnabout is fair play), but the purpose for that is THEIR (the lawfirm's or lawyer's) representation and warranty that they've given you EVERYTHING, pursuant to the court's order or agreement between the parties, etc. Even if The Unk does the copying, presumably to save himself money, make damned sure that his legal rep is on the hook, for checking it and warranting that you have ALL of it. Otherwise, you are paying for (possibly) very expensive lies.
HTH.
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As I've said we've been trying to get our hands on the bookkeeping for years. When my grandmother died those papers became property of all the heirs, so he should share them. We've considered staring another lawsuit to get the papers, but according to our lawyer it would most likely be a waste of money. Because you can't force someone to hand over the evidence that he/she did something illegal. And we're sure he did mess about with my grandmother money.
We'll see where it ends, but I'm sure my uncle's quote of €1500 is because he knows he can't refuse to hand over the papers but he wants to stop it by asking so much money for copying it.