[jonlawlor]

Always show up in court if you are being sued. If no one shows up at all for one side, they lose. He sent his assistant, but I doubt that made the judge happy. That's probably the mistake that cost him 100k of his and his employees' time.

[cpayne]

> Always show up in court if you are being sued

THIS!

If nothing else, its a sign of respect.

The judge doesn't know the history, doesn't know the background. He knows there are two parties that don't agree.

He sees one side prepared, he sees the otherside who sends their assistant.

What would you do if you were the judge?

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

> What would you do if you were the judge?

My job, which includes attempting to determine the facts and deliver a just decision, instead of making a reality-show-style popularity contest out of it.

[Gorbzel]

Proper procedure (including appearance, notice, and other jurisdictional matters) is part of the decision.

It's ridiculous how otherwise (mostly) rational professionals are so blinded by their version of facts & the adversarial nature of litigation / hearings that they act so cluelessly.

This comment included: imagine if someone had a pitch scheduled with a VC, but sent an assistant instead. The investor would correctly pass on that and HN would flip a shit. But involve lawyers, judges and the judicial process...and expecting someone to show up to court is a "reality show popularity contest"

[paulddraper]

Credibility is part of judgment.

The claim was that he didn't fully hold up his end of the contract. This isn't a criminal case with forensics; this is small claims with a lot of he-said, she-sad.

Not dodging court lends credibility to your side.

[eridius]

Attending certainly would add credibility, but it seems unconscionable that the judge wouldn't even let the assistant present their defense at all.

[joelx]

I do agree with this and should have attended the first trial myself.

I do find myself somewhat conflicted though as to what advice to offer others in the same situation. In California small claims court, it seems that you basically can appeal a decision for any reason as the defendant. You could almost make it a practice to send an entry level person to fight the first one and if you lost, go back and appeal. The other shocking thing is that if state you will not stipulate to a pro tem hearing your case, your case will most likely be delayed again and again. You could almost just do that till the other party gives up. I have doubts that a person angry enough to sue would give up though - I did not.

[innocentoldguy]

> Always show up in court if you are being sued.

Even then it can be hit and miss, depending upon the judge's ability to understand the case. I have been court a couple of times where the judge used my exact argument to side with my opponent. I got both decisions reversed in appeals, but that didn't make the process any less frustrating.

Unfortunately, courtrooms are not always the bastions of justice we'd like to think they are.

[saghm]

I think the idea behind "always show up in court if you are being sued" isn't that it will always work out for you, but that it almost definitely won't work out for you if you don't show up.

[inimino]

I cringed when I got to that part. Not showing up in small claims court and sending your assistant is just the dumbest thing short of not showing up at all, and not hiring a lawyer.

He acknowledges this as his biggest mistake:

> At this point, I made my biggest mistake and figured it was such an obvious win that I did not even need to attend the small claims hearing

Hopefully everyone reading can learn this lesson the easy way and save the $100k.

[whack]

In this case, it was the company that was being sued, and the assistant was there to represent the company. Which sounds perfectly reasonable. It would be nice, but there's certainly no expectation for the CEO/owner to attend every single court case.

[inimino]

All the emails and negotiations are between him and the other guy. It's not like his company is a multinational with billions in revenue and the CEO on another continent. It was absolutely a huge mistake not to show up personally.