David Faber

David Faber

I am sorry that Scott feels this way. When I first met with Scott, I informed him that I thought he had a reasonably strong case and that it might be possible that we could win on summary judgment early in the process. While further investigating the case, a material issue of fact presented itself which would have made a summary judgment motion unlikely to prevail. I informed Scott of the weakness in our case and offered to pursue a more rigorous defense, but outside of sending interrogatories and requests for admission, he insisted that he wanted to leave the ball in the plaintiff's proverbial court. Accordingly, I took a defensive position, assisted the client in responding to discovery requests from the plaintiff, and otherwise stuck to a holding pattern, prepared to respond if the plaintiff ever decided to move their case forward. Ultimately, the defense I prepared for my client was successful at discouraging the plaintiff from attempting to move forward with the case, and we ended with the result my client said he wanted at the beginning: the plaintiff was frustrated and unable to successfully prosecute his case. Eventually, the plaintiff decided to voluntarily withdraw their claims under CR 41(B)(2), which was the plaintiff's prerogative. I informed Scott of the plaintiff's intention, attempted to explain--both by email and phone--precisely what options remained after a CR 41(B)(2) voluntary dismissal had been filed: filing for attorney fees and initiating a new suit against the neighbor. When I asked the client whether he wanted to seek payment of his attorney fees--which remains a viable option after a CR 41(B)(2) dismissal--he stated he "doesn't want money" and that he wanted to force his neighbor to apologize. I informed him that I was unable to force the neighbor to do so. I also informed Scott that I would be unable to represent him on further suit against the neighbor and instead offered to refer Scott to other attorneys who work on the Olympic Peninsula. That was where this matter ended. I am honestly surprised Scott is this upset. I followed my client's directions, gave him careful advice throughout, and ultimately we were successful in defending the case.