{"id":646,"date":"2010-01-12T06:44:17","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T11:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.commerciallawinternational.com\/?p=646"},"modified":"2010-01-12T13:16:32","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T18:16:32","slug":"law-suits-and-public-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commerciallawinternational.com\/?p=646","title":{"rendered":"Law Suits and Public Relations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Remember The Greater Commercial Interest...Don't Get Crushed By Your Own Litigation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First posted on Law is Cool<\/a> on Jan 9, 2010.<\/p>\n

This is\u00a0a blog post by current University of Western\u00a0Ontario <\/a>third year law<\/a> student and Law is Cool blogger,\u00a0John Magyar<\/a>\u00a0that I just had to share. It is a perfect illustraion of why here at Commercial Law International we say that: Commercial Awareness Is Global<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The story featured in the post is not gobal in the geographic sence but rather in the sense of being all\u00a0encompassing. It illustrates very nicely\u00a0why persuing a\u00a0cliam or legal right while making perfect legal sense may not make much business sense. It gives a stark warning to current and future lawyers and their cleints for that matter to have\u00a0 a Global-Big Picture<\/em> outlook by examining how the best interests of the client are served; especially when considering\u00a0persuing litigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enjoy:<\/p>\n

According to an article<\/a> by Canadian Press, Loblaws has seen the light and will no longer sue the man \u2018deemed to be at fault\u2019 for a collision involving a Loblaws truck that caused the death of the man\u2019s wife and 6 teenage boys.\u00a0 The legal action had been a lingering PR disaster that motivated outraged communities to push for a boycott.<\/p>\n

Having spent all of 4 minutes considering the matter, I am struck by the lack of circumspect. This accident was a highly publicized tragedy that made front-page national news. Prime Minister Harper sent a letter of condolence to the school that the teenagers attended, according to CBC news<\/a>, and no where in the coverage was the driver blamed.<\/p>\n

This man was a basketball coach.\u00a0 He was driving a van that carried the basketball team plus his wife and daughter.\u00a0 It was winter and the road conditions were not good when the van fish-tailed on a highway and unspeakable tragedy ensued. This man might have been driving too fast, and his negligence might have caused damage to a Loblaws truck, however, from where I sit, public backlash seems a likely outcome of litigation. He made a horrible mistake and paid very dearly for it:\u00a0 He lost his wife, he could have lost his daughter.\u00a0 Many families in the community lost a son. Meanwhile, amidst all of this loss of life, Loblaws wants to recover for a damaged truck and lost inventory.\u00a0 This looks cold-hearted to say the least.<\/p>\n

There is lesson to be learned here.\u00a0 As we graduate from law school and become involved in that financial bloodsport called litigation, we should remember that law suits do not occur in a vacuum.\u00a0 Even though the law says you can, and even if you\u2019re impervious to emotional reactions to sympathetic defendants, you should consider the potential for public outcry.\u00a0 The client likely values his or her public profile more than money, and this applies whether the matter is civil, family or criminal.<\/p>\n

From where I sit this seems so obvious \u2026\u00a0 but maybe things look different after swimming in shark-infested water for a few years.\u00a0 Perhaps the real lesson is to remember what things look like from the outside when your on the inside.<\/p>\n

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