Suing Your Neighbor
When should I sue my neighbor?
If you have exhausted all other possible avenues to resolve a dispute with a neighbor, then you're going to have to consider whether you want to go to court with them, and file a lawsuit. Hopefully you have some advisors, some friends and family that you've been able to talk to about it, to help think it through, and to make sure that there are no other avenues that you can pursue to settle it without going to court. Certainly a lawyer can be helpful in making certain that you have looked at all the alternatives to filing a lawsuit. You certainly can try a mediation on your own, with or without a lawyer; you may have some mutual friend who can help you try to resolve it, if they are willing to get involved, and you want to look at all the possible ways of resolving it that you can.You also want to make certain that you have documented all the problems, all of the losses or damages that you have suffered, all of the attempts that you have made to resolve things, because those issues may come up in court at some point along the way, as to what efforts you made to resolve it, and certainly you obviously need to have all the facts together. The more you organise things, the better off you will be, whether you go to court yourself, or whether you're taking it to a lawyer to let them know what the story is. You will use less of their time, it will cost you less money, if it's all better organised before you go there.
How do I prepare my case to take my neighbor to court?
You want to make certain that you have all of your facts in order and well documented. You want to get all of your evidence together, all of your witnesses. Best to frankly write out for yourself, even if there's no lawyer, what all the facts are; what you think it is that they prove, take a look at what legal rights you have and make certain those facts fit into those legal theories and allow you to prove whatever it is that you need to prove when you get to court. And of course you need to try to do this in a dispassionate way, even though you're involved in what is probably a fairly emotional issue. It's one reason why it's best to have some advisors around. Even if you're not going to use a lawyer, you may want to talk to a lawyer to get his feeling about how strong your case is and what things you need to stress and perhaps some things you need to avoid talking about as part of your case.
How do I prepare myself for my day in court?
It's always best when you are heading into court or really any kind of speaking engagement to visualise what you are going to do. Think about what you are going to say, and how you are going to say it. Picture yourself doing it. You may even want to practice doing it. You don't necessarily need a complete script but certainly if you are going to do it yourself, you are going to want an outline. Any good lawyer is going to have his own outline if he goes into trial; probably an outline for the questioning of every witness, and certainly an outline for an opening statement and a closing statement and what you expect things are going to prove, as well as to-do-lists for things that you need to do in terms of exhibits, what issues to raise and what time to raise them. You need to have all those sorts of things together, and if you are going to be a witness (which almost certainly you will be) think about your testimony; picture yourself on that witness stand. You may want your lawyer to run through that with you (if you are taking a lawyer) and if you are not going to have a lawyer, have a friend or family member run through your testimony with you. Let them listen to what you are going to say. People have their own conceptions about how to be a witness. Lawyers differ and experts may differ, and some individuals feel 'Gee, I have to be completely dispassionate,' and others feel 'Gee, I am going to break down and cry and get everyone's sympathy'. Usually the best advice is that you need to be yourself because people ascertain the truth by judging whether somebody is really being themselves or not. That's how they tell whether something is genuine or not genuine. If someone is not being genuine, a lot of times you will see it in their body language. Just this week, I was in a meeting with a communications professional, someone who helps people communicate to the public; CEOs of companies, things like that. She said that if you want to tell if somebody is telling the truth when you see them on television, turn off the sound and watch the body language. That's a very good piece of advice to follow. You are going to be yourself. If you are emotional about the issue, it's alright to let out those emotions out to a certain extent because that's the way you feel; that's genuine. It's alright to be genuine. It is necessary to be genuine when you step into that witness chair. You don't want to overdo things but you don't necessarily want to understate your feelings unless you believe, and other people have confirmed to you, that maybe some of your feelings or beliefs are unjustified or too strong under the circumstances. You may be overreacting to something and if you've been told that you want to be careful that you aren't appearing to be overreacting when you are in that witness chair, because that will be perceived as well.
