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Microcap & Penny Stocks : FRANKLIN TELECOM (FTEL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: vic klimpl who wrote (36023)	7/13/1998 10:47:00 AM
From: David Colvin	Respond to of 41046

Vic, You said: The courts will decide.But at 400 bucks an hour it is a painful experience. I will tell you a story...will try to make it as short as possible. Back in the late '70's I was in the real estate business in Florida. We sold a large older home for $100,000 and, of course, ordered a termite inspection (a must in Florida). After the sale, the new owner "discovered" that the back porch floor was infested with termites and filed a $100,000 lawsuit against the termite company, the closing attorney and against our office. Each one of us was sued for $100,000, the entire purchase price of the home! All we did was order the damned termite inspection, but in America anybody can sue anybody else for anything...doesn't have to make sense. We had to defend ourselves or lose by default. We hired the best trial attorney in town and I wound up with a stack of depositions in my office that was about a foot thick...all over a %$&@@ termite inspection!!! Things dragged on for months and our attorney bills really piled up...he even had a helicopter fly over the house and take aerial pictures. The case finally went to trial (by jury) and lasted for three days. The guy suing us showed up with two attorneys (who knows how much his bill was). Well, it turned out that in the discovery process we found out that the prospective buyer had borrowed a flashlight from the woman next door to the house in question, and she saw the guy looking under the back porch. He saw the termite damage before he bought the house! After a short deliberation period the jury awarded the guy nothing...nada, zilch, zero! Our attorney fees were $10,000! We immediately asked if we couldn't turn around and sue this clown for malicious intent and our attorney advised against it, saying that it was very hard to prove. Really good deal, huh? We were out $10,000 and didn't do anything wrong! Needless to say we quit ordering termite inspections. For that matter, we started taking all contracts to our closing attorney and let him take care of ordering termite inspections, title searches, etc. Just thought you guys might find this real story interesting. I guess the lesson here is if you don't have deep pockets, you certainly don't want to get sued...even if you win. Dave