Question 33 of NY 1ST Dept. C&F - Is this a Civil Action? Forum

[Anonymous User]

If you had a bad experience with a business, and proceeded to complain and threaten to engage counsel but were then given a lump sum in exchange for a non-disclosure contract - would you be considered "a complainant, party or witness to otherwise involved in any civil action?"

This happened about 5 years ago, and the contract is ironclad and includes my bar application (because they knew I was going to law school). On the other hand, the underlying facts became a CNN story this past year because there were a slew of other cases. I'm pretty confident I'd be sued if they found out I disclosed it to C&F and the liquidated damages are roughly 10,000 times the hush money I received - basically, I'd be sunk.

[Anonymous User]

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[Danger Zone]

Sounds like no action was ever initiated, so no

[Anonymous User]

A c&f lawyer will be a few thousand dollar investment so I'm just going to do the irresponsible thing and guess based on my judgment, and those of other quasi-professionals. I'm not losing money because some employee assaulted me for believing I was of a certain race, and would lose money if I had to hire a lawyer. My guess is it's not an actual legal complaint, and when I get sued for violating my agreement I'd have to amend my app to answer yes to a slew of other q's related to the new lawsuit. Anyone dispute DZ's guess or is this the consensus under that q?

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

If I was you, I would conclude no. Threatening to sue is not initiating a civil action. Receiving $ to not sue in the future is not a civil action.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks! So it's reasonable to conclude that a civil action requires a court filing, and not just conduct that could be construed as a civil action? I figure that they are very specific in other areas (like dismissed tickets) so would have included non-legal resolutions and arbitration and the like if they wanted to?

[NotMyRealName09]

Thanks! So it's reasonable to conclude that a civil action requires a court filing, and not just conduct that could be construed as a civil action? I figure that they are very specific in other areas (like dismissed tickets) so would have included non-legal resolutions and arbitration and the like if they wanted to?

Were court rules involved? If so, its a civil action. See, e.g., Fed. R. Civ. P. 2 ("There is one form of action—the civil action."); see also N.Y. CVP. LAW § 103 ("There is only one form of civil action.") (editor note: I didn't blue book that last citation).

I feel like this really isn't a judgment call.

[Anonymous User]

No, no court. I'm also not proud of my conduct in handling the situation. I was very mad afterwards, and cursed a lot in corresponding with them and returned their later threats of violence with threats of worse violence such that once they hired a lawyer to negotiate a settlement, his first demand was I don't contact them again because they're scared of me.

[NotMyRealName09]

No, no court. I'm also not proud of my conduct in handling the situation. I was very mad afterwards, and cursed a lot in corresponding with them and returned their later threats of violence with threats of worse violence such that once they hired a lawyer to negotiate a settlement, his first demand was I don't contact them again because they're scared of me.

This makes me realize I have not been in enough fights in my life. Or maybe I have.

[lavarman84]

If you had a bad experience with a business, and proceeded to complain and threaten to engage counsel but were then given a lump sum in exchange for a non-disclosure contract - would you be considered "a complainant, party or witness to otherwise involved in any civil action?"

This happened about 5 years ago, and the contract is ironclad and includes my bar application (because they knew I was going to law school). On the other hand, the underlying facts became a CNN story this past year because there were a slew of other cases. I'm pretty confident I'd be sued if they found out I disclosed it to C&F and the liquidated damages are roughly 10,000 times the hush money I received - basically, I'd be sunk.

Can they even enforce that? My contracts law knowledge is pretty weak but liquidated damages being far greater than the amount of money contracted for sounds like it wouldn't be enforceable. But then again, it's probably smart not to find out.

[rpupkin]

No, no court. I'm also not proud of my conduct in handling the situation. I was very mad afterwards, and cursed a lot in corresponding with them and returned their later threats of violence with threats of worse violence such that once they hired a lawyer to negotiate a settlement, his first demand was I don't contact them again because they're scared of me.

Your non-disclosure agreement was bilateral, right? They're not many things short of a felony that can kill your chances of becoming a lawyer at the C&F stage, but threatening violence in correspondence concerning a potential civil complaint is probably one of them.

[Anonymous User]

I never realized my handling of the matter was wrong until I took civil procedure so never thought to ask for a bilateral non-disclosure. I knew nothing about the law at the time, and didn't think tough talk was bad if I didn't initiate it as I'm a New Yorker and don't really bat an eye to such threats. I think the in house counsel was the one who was afraid, because either she or someone else in her office had the surveillance footage of the incident deleted and I said I'd go to the cops (I wrongly believed this was a big crime). The non-lawyers I interacted with were much less soft.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Although you're sounding a little unhinged, this doesn't appear to be a civil action.