Have you ever felt like you have tried to communicate with someone (including a company) about an issue and you either get no response or you get brushed off? Well you are not alone. In today’s age people and companies are less and less willing to admit that they were wrong or to correct their mistakes. Unfortunately, this causes significant harm to you and others.
Sometimes the only way for you to get a real dialogue going is to hire an attorney and send a demand letter. Some things you should know when getting ready to send a demand letter are: 1) the purposes of a demand letter, 2) the keys to a successful demand letter, and 3) the types of issues that could require a demand letter, and 4) how easy it is to retain our team to help you with a demand letter.
The Purpose of a Demand Letter or “Cease and Desist Letter”
People have many reasons for wanting to send a demand letter and it is not just wanting to get paid a lot of money. In fact, in helping people that is usually not the main reason people ask us to send a demand letter (however it is and should be one of the requests in a demand letter). Below are the primary reasons we have heard as we help people with their demand letters:
- Inform someone of a wrong or wrongdoing that happened or is likely to happen
- Correct or stop an ongoing harm to you and/or others
- Request additional information about an issue so you can gain a better understanding of the situation
- Get money
Sometimes a demand letter will encompass all four of these things, and sometimes it will address only one of these things. Regardless, it is a demand letter all the same.
The Key to a Successful Demand Letter
What many people (including many lawyers) do not know is that a successful demand letter is built on one key principle – strategic leverage. Knowing and using what creates the most leverage for you is the art behind a great demand letter.
So what creates the most strategic leverage for you in a demand letter? Here are seven things you should consider:
- Understanding and outlining the law(s) and/or contract(s) that apply to the situation
- Understanding of the people involved in the situation and the roles that they play
- Knowledge of other sensitive issues that may be applicable to your situation
- Written or strong testimonial evidence of the wrongdoing
- Identification of the harm caused to you and potentially others
- Your willingness to pursue the issue through litigation
- How will you handle negotiations once the other side responds
Too often people go into a demand letter only understanding the harm that they are experiencing and simply asking the other side to “do the right thing”. This never works. You have to create strategic leverage first before the other side “will do the right thing”.
Types of Issue for a Demand Letter
The beautiful thing about a demand letter is that it can be used for nearly any issue. For example, here are the issues where our team has used a demand letter:
- Non-compete violation
- Theft of confidential information
- Business partnership disputes
- Breach of contract
- Non-payment by client/customer
- Failure to provide services by company
- Cancellation of services
- Warranty issues
- Dispute with a contractor/services provided
- Employee unpaid wages/commissions issues
- Employee discrimination issues
- Misclassification of independent contractors
- Medical Malpractice (surgery gone bad)
- Professional negligence (vets, nurses, dentists, etc.)
- Solar sales contract issues
- Voiding of improper contracts
- Bad vehicle repair by mechanic
- Bad vehicle sold by used car lot
- Commercial lease issues
- Property dispute
- Conflict between neighbors
- Misinformation on investments opportunities
- 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 to Get Help with Your Demand Letter
As you can see, a demand letter may seem very simple on its face, but to prepare the most successful demand letter 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 discuss your legal issues and gather the facts/documents.
- Retain our team to draft 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
Demand letters can vary in cost depending on their 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 your demand letter will cost you before we move forward, and 2) we offer flat fee (rather than hourly rate) demand letter 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.
