b'How to Protect Your Assets Step 6. Collect on Judgment American Society for Asset ProtectionThe court provides the judgment but the judgment One of the keys to learning how to protect your businessis of no value if there is no way to collect on the and personal assets from lawsuits is to understand howjudgment. While a family could win a wrongful lawsuits work. The proceedings of a lawsuit can bedeath judgment against a murderer, many murderers broken into six simple steps.do not have enough assets to justify a lawsuit. For this reason, it is rare for a murderer to be sued for Step 1. Injury or Loss the wrongly death of their victim. The beginning of a lawsuit is an injury or loss of someAn exception to this was in the case of O.J. Simpson. Although he was found not guilty during kind. his murder trial, O.J. was sued by the families of Step 2. Find a Defendant(s) Who Can Pay Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and Most lawsuits are done on a contingency basis, so one ofwas found liable for their wrongful deaths. The the first things an attorney does before accepting a case iscourts awarded a judgment of $33.5 million in to perform an asset search to see if the defendant woulddamages to the victims families. O.J. Simpson was be worth pursuing. Attorneys search for a candidate withsued because he had assets which the attorneys felt substantial personal and business assets available forthey could collect on. While the attorneys for the seizure and/or significant insurance coverage. All toofamilies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald often, people are named as defendants in a lawsuitGoldman have been able to collect on some of the because of their ability to pay, not because of fault or$33.5 million judgment, most of the judgement has error.not been collected. Now, decades later, the Step 3. Construct a Theory of Liabilityattorneys continue to work to collect on the If the person immediately responsible for the loss orjudgment. injury does not have the ability to pay, the attorney willSettlement Anytime during the lawsuit process you can come search for a deep-pocketed defendant and a theory ofto a settlement to end the lawsuit. Attorneys know liability that can be developed against him or her,that even if you win a lawsuit against you, you still showing why that defendant should be held responsible.lose because it costs you thousands of dollars in The success of the trial attorney is dependent upon this.legal fees to defend yourself. The cost to defend Trial attorneys make up one of the largest lobbyistyourself, even against a frivolous lawsuit, can cost groups in the country and have created laws to increasehundreds of thousands of dollars. The trial will also the level of vicarious liability. Vicarious liability meanstake time and cause mental and emotional strain. you can be held responsible for the actions of others.Your privacy and reputation can be damaged, and Trial attorneys have worked hard to ensure that whoeverthe uncertainty of the outcome can result in a high has the money can be held responsible for negativedegree of stress and anxiety.outcomes through vicarious liability, even if they committed no wrong. Attorneys exploit all of these factors when they sue Step 4. Trialyou. The attorneys know that you may be willing to Every day we see trial attorneys winning cases thatsettle the caseeven if the case holds little or no appear to be irrational, absurd, and without merit. Manymeritjust to have it behind you. If you have attorneys will even pursue a bad case if they can find aavailable and reachable assets, the attorneys know they have leverage to get you to settle. Many defendant with the ability to pay. They hope that they canattorneys make a living collecting settlement after obtain a settlement or convince the jury to award cash tosettlement from innocent defendants (victims). This the injured, needy plaintiff from the comparativelyis what we call legal extortion.wealthy defendant. Many jurors have freely admitted that they have overlooked whether the defendant was at faultConclusion if they felt sorry for the plaintiff. The best way to defend against a lawsuit it to take Step 5. Judgment away the financial incentive of attorneys to prevent If the plaintiff (person filing the lawsuit) wins the trialthe lawsuit from ever happening. If you have no and the defendant (the person they are suing) is foundreachable and sizable assets, the trial attorneys responsible for the injury or loss, the court renders astrategies of legal extortion will not be effective judgment to compensate the plaintiff for their injury and/ against you. With proper asset protection in place, or loss. It is now routine for judgments to be in theattorneys will not want to pursue a lawsuit against millions of dollars. you. 23'