LEGALLY SPEAKING
www.mrca.org  —  Midwest Roofer
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Step 1. Injury or Loss 
The beginning of a lawsuit is an injury or loss of 
some kind. 
Step 2. Find a Defendant(s) Who Can Pay 
Most lawsuits are done on a contingency basis, 
so one of the first things an attorney does before 
accepting a case is to perform an asset search to see 
if the defendant would be worth pursuing. Attorneys 
search for a candidate with substantial personal 
and business assets available for seizure and/or 
significant insurance coverage. All too often, people 
are named as defendants in a lawsuit because of 
their ability to pay, not because of fault or error.
Step 3. Construct a Theory of Liability
If the person immediately responsible for the loss or 
injury does not have the ability to pay, the attorney 
will search for a deep-pocketed defendant and a 
theory of liability that can be developed against 
him or her, showing why that defendant should be 
held responsible. The success of the trial attorney 
is dependent upon this. Trial attorneys make up 
one of the largest lobbyist groups in the country 
and have created laws to increase the level of 
vicarious liability. Vicarious liability means you can 
be held responsible for the actions of others. Trial 
attorneys have worked hard to ensure that whoever 
has the money can be held responsible for negative 
outcomes through vicarious liability, even if they 
committed no wrong. 
Step 4. Trial
Every day we see trial attorneys winning cases 
that appear to be irrational, absurd, and without 
merit. Many attorneys will even pursue a bad case 
By: Larry Oxenham, American Society for Asset Protection
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ASSETS 
One of the keys to learning how to protect your business and personal assets 
from lawsuits is to understand how lawsuits work. The proceedings of a 
lawsuit can be broken into six simple steps.

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