Dynasoar- One word of advice to you (or anyone for that matter), from someone who has spent *,***,***.00"s of dollars in legal fees, no matter what they say, they are not YOUR ATTORNEY, au contraire, you are their MEAL TICKET. This is true 99.9% of the time. If you (or the defendant) have any money, I guarantee the combined legal costs will be AT LEAST what you are litigating for. that is the way the system works. If you are lucky you will break even unless you go on contingency. I know this upfront going into any litigation-I do it only for principle, not for profit (or to break even).
More often than not the only parties that come out of litigation whole are the parties with:
a) no money; or
b) all the money.
At least on the Left Coast. That is just the way it works, its all about the money.
Anyone disagrees, PM me with your attorney. I will have a ton of business for them.
If you are an attorney, and disagree, be forewarned, I have my LL.B from the school of C.A.S.H. and I know your program, i.e. you want to transfer as much money as possible from my account to yours. Period.