Contingency fee agreements are based on the likelihood the client has a claim that’s going to win a judgment.
SGF isn’t asserting a claim where they could be awarded any judgment.
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Thanks. But are LK and MB?
Edit: Or should I said could they have a contingency, I realize we don’t know the arrangement
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Interesting real life experience. Thanks for sharing it, although I am sorry that the subject of your fathers death somehow got drug into this.
One pointed question for you… if I might…
Did anyone ask you questions about confidential financial settlements involving NDAs that you might have received? Essentially… situations that never actually made it to the point of being a civil lawsuit of any kind… because they were quietly settled before they got that far? My guess is that between the financial disclosure process, and the deposition process, if they had reason to believe something like that existed, they could have gone down that rabbit hole… correct?
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When people show you who they are, believe them.
Not that there was any doubt.
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What a rabbit hole to go down this morning. The things I never knew and probably never needed to know. Poor trees!
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I have no idea what either of their fee agreements with their lawyers are. Typically, when a defendant in a suit hires an attorney there’s no contingency. You’re paying the attorney(s) to defend, not hoping for a payout. This case, MB does have some fairly coherent counterclaims though.
I find myself wondering if LK owes her former attorney (Bruce Nagel) for three years of work on the case., because typically, even if you did have a pure contingency agreement, if you end the agreement before the case ends, you owe the attorney for their time.
Also, most contingency agreements don’t include covering out of pocket costs.
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Was he her lawyer for three years?
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Yep. He filed the suit on October 18, 2019, two months after the incident.
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Thanks. Interesting that he would suddenly be gone after such a long time on the case.
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No, no one asked about NDAs but I did (in the interest of full disclosure) reveal a settlement I got outside of court from a special fund due to injury from a toxic exposure and subsequent related cancer.
At a deposition you can ask any question you want. There is no rabbit hole too deep.
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Good point. And you know what? I’m hearing Kenny Rogers singing in my head again…
“You got to know when to hold ‘em,
Know when to fold ‘em,
Know when to walk away,
And know when to run.
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done.
Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin’
Is knowin’ what to throw away
And knowin’ what to keep.
'Cause every hand’s a winner,
And every hand’s a loser,
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep."
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For years I have heard of a “sponsor”. Years and years. I can clearly imagine that sponsor, if one exists, must be getting fairly antsy at this point.
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Financial sponsor? Or AA type sponsor?
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I really don’t know. Honestly! It’s been in the background that “someone” is involved somehow but clearly could be part of the myth!
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Ah, yes. The “sponsor.”
Well… I’m sure the attorneys will ask about it during the financial disclosure phase. Does the “sponsor” pay LK directly, and then she pays all the bills to support the horses? Or does the sponsor pay the bills directly? What sort of accounting is involved in all this? How do LK’s annual tax returns treat all this sponsor related income? Does she have a professional prepare her taxes every year? Can the attorneys see the the last seven years of her tax returns?
I mean… I have many many very boring, basic technical accounting related questions that I would ask if I was an attorney involved in all of this. And… I think some things would become very hard to keep private. And… I think that might expose bigger issues that a cautious person might not want to expose.
Oh well. She can keep on leaning forward into the lawsuit if she wants to, I suppose. I don’t think it will end well for her though.
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Huh.
I am not a financial expert. At all.
But I would not think the prospect of a return on the investment is looking too promising at this point.
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Well… I haven’t seen her routinely hash tagging and marketing a specific equestrian related product for years - like a particular saddle maker, or a line of apparel, or a brand of feed. And… she hasn’t been competing for awhile, so it’s safe to say that she’s not actively in the hunt for a spot on the team…
So if there is a sponsor, it must be someone with a personal interest in supporting LK and her riding, who has no desire to make a return on their investment, nor an interest in public recognition.
Who knows… I think it’s likely that lawyers will ask about it though.
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Not very long. LO didn’t meet MB until the summer of 2018 while in IL and her daughter attended a clinic there given by MB. Her daughter later became a working student for MB and they made the trek to NJ (according to one of the news articles). MB was involved in a relationship with MHG until he shot LK. So LO didn’t have long to form even a friendship before he ended up in jail. She took on a lot of responsibility for all his troubles based upon a few short months acquaintance. Women are typically easier to feel sorry for an incarcerated man and fall into such a relationship than the reverse. That’s why it’s such a noteworthy phenomenon in psychological studies. Many women enter into a relationship with an incarcerated man without ever having actually met the man.
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Yup.
So which particular brand/equestrian related company is actually sponsoring LK?
Like… who actually wants that sort of publicity?
I mean… maybe she could help market safety vests to eventers… “When I go to the barn and walk around, I always wear my XYZ vest. It helps make me feel extra safe, whether I fall off my horse, or in the event someone tries to shoot me again.”
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