I'm being sued by a credit card company in superior court for beaucoup dinero (over $30K) for non-payment. The cardholder agreement has an arbitration clause that says that either party may elect arbitration. Quite frankly, I have a valid counterclaim that far exceeds their demand for payment, so I'm content to keep this in Superior Court. They haven't received my answer yet. But, does anyone know if they can suddenly decide they want to switch to arbitration? The arbitration clause in the cardholder agreement is unclear on this point. I'm going to bury them with discovery, and I think they'll want to settle at that point unless they can switch to arbitration and reduce the amount of information they have to produce. TIA, Jeff
You have me VERY curious here. What could you possibly have on the OC that exceeds $30K? Also, can someone explain the logic of burying your opponent in a paper blizzard to raise their legal expense? Would one ONLY use this technique in a case where they have a counter claim? I could see this technique easily backfiring and raising the amount of THEIR legal expenses that the court orders ME to pay if they win. Right?
I'd rather not go into the counterclaim just yet, but several attorneys have assured me it is valid and likely winnable. As far as running up their tab, if I lose, I file BK (won't have a choice), so victory at all costs. I expect them to be interested in settling quickly, as they probably don't want to disclose a lot of the information in court and they probably don't want any precedents set. I anticipate a settlement along with a non-disclosure agreement, so they probably won't be willing to go the distance on this. If they do, the run-up in legal bills will be at their discretion, not mine.
I can't go into the counterclaim at the moment, but it is valid. As far as paperwork goes, (a) I expect them to see their lost cause on the counterclaim very quickly, and (b) they will likely be unwilling to make public that which I am requesting, so they should agree to settle quickly. If not, the size of their legal bills is at their discretion, not mine. In the unlikely event I lose, BK will be my only option, regardless of the amount of legal expenses they claim, so it's irrelevant to me how much they spend.
