Have you ever received a demand or cease and desist letter. If you are new to this experience, then it can be unsettling. If you have seen them before, then you know all too well that it will require your attention.
So what is the best way to answer a demand letter? This article will go through 1) the top questions you should ask when receiving a demand letter, 2) the types of responses you can give, 3) the types of demand letters our team has responded to with legal expertise, 4) Easy ways we can take the stress off your shoulders.
The Top Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Receiving a Demand Letter
Once you get passed the emotions of receiving a demand letter, asking yourself (and others involved) the following questions can help you establish a game plan for how to best answer the demand letter itself. The questions are:
- Who and what type of person is sending the demand letter (this often says a lot about the demand letter itself)
- What are the legal threats alleged and what types of damages are associated with those threats (for example, some laws have mandatory attorneys’ fees provisions which can be a huge leverage piece against you moving forward if you are in the wrong)
- How strong and provable are the facts alleged (is there written evidence of wrongdoing, are there corroborating witnesses, etc.)
- What information is available to support your contradictory position to the facts/legal allegations
- What counter allegations and/or leverage do you have against the person sending the demand letter that can be used legally
- Do you understand the best and worst case scenarios that could happen if the person actually won in court against you
- Does how you will respond to this demand letter impact any of your current connections (relationships, employees, customers/clients, etc.)
Without having a strong answer to each of these questions, you will struggle to come up with the most effective way to answer a demand letter that is sent to you.
The Types of Response You Can Give
Depending on your answers to the above questions, there are six different ways you can respond to a demand letter:
- Do not respond at all
- Respond without addressing the facts and/or legal allegations directly and simply attempt to negotiate a resolution
- Respond by disputing and refuting the facts and/or legal allegations
- Respond by disputing and refuting the facts and/or legal allegations while also asserting counter allegations and claims
- Respond under either 3 or 4 and then offer a counter offer 6) Respond accepting either or both the facts/legal allegations (in whole or in part) and extending an offer to negotiate a resolution
Deciding which path to go is often a very strategic endeavor that is best considered with someone who is skilled in both sending and responding to demand letters
Types of Demand Letters We Have Helped With
We love assisting individuals and companies with responding to demand letters. For example, here are the issues and allegations where our team has responded to a demand letter:
- Partnership dispute
- Breach of commercial lease
- Violation of non-compete
- Breach of non-disclosure agreement
- Breach of non-solicitation agreement
- Poor Workmanship by Contractor
- Failure to provide services by company
- Employee unpaid wages/commissions issues
- Employee discrimination issues
- Misclassification of independent contractors
- Property dispute
- Conflict between neighbors
- Spousal disputes
- Defamation and slander issues
- Trademark/copyright enforcement
- Misappropriation of trade secrets
- Unfair competition by competitor
- Insurance bad faith denial of coverage
- Probate disputes
- Seller disclosure issues
- Real estate disputes
- Fraud
- And many more!
Easy Way We Can Help Take the Stress Off Your Shoulders
Responding to a demand letter is sometimes simple, but more often than not it should be done with a thoughtful strategic approach. This requires skill. That is why our team has prepared a simple process for you to get the help you need. It requires 3 easy steps:
- Contact our team to set up a consultation (strategy session) so we can review the demand letter and the surrounding facts.
- Retain our team to draft the response to the demand letter which we will then send to you for review and approval before sending.
- Relax knowing that your legal issues are being handled by skilled and experienced attorneys.
Cost
The cost to having our team respond to a demand letter can vary based on the length and the complexity of the issues. However, two things should put you at ease when working with Counxel Legal Firm: 1) during that first strategy session after we listen to you and gather the relevant documents, we can tell you how much the answer to the demand letter will cost you before we move forward, and 2) we offer f late fee (rather than hourly rate) demand letter response packages. That way you can know exactly how much your demand letter will cost you! This goes along with our motto of “No Surprises” for our clients.
We also have a great monthly membership program for businesses and business owners called “Counxel on-Call” that includes, among other benefits, a demand letter or demand letter response monthly. All this for just $99/month.
