Lyda Law Firm Wins Damages Plus Attorney Fees in Property Management Case

Lyda Law Firm's clients, property owners in Copper Mountain, Colorado, collected contractual damages, interest, costs, and attorney fees in a case against their property management firm. The property management firm failed to follow the terms of the contract, collected fees not provided in the contract, and failed to disclose financials to LLF's clients.

This case presented many of the challenges that small businesses and individuals typically face in litigation. Often, the other side's strategy is to try to evade and obfuscate the process rather than mount a substantive defense. The idea is to make the case disproportionately costly and difficult to pursue. Small businesses lawyers need to think strategically not only about how to win the case, but how to do so efficiently.

Here, the defendant went to great lengths to avoid process servers. Eventually, LLF obtained an order from the Court for service by mail. Additionally, after the judgment, the defendant unsuccessfully moved the Court to set aside its own order. Then, the defendant informed LLF of its intention to avoid paying the judgment and make the collections process as difficult as possible. The collections process is a consideration for any small business or individual engaged in litigation. Small business lawyers must know how to negotiate, investigate, and pursue collections. Here, after LLF signaled its client's intent to collect the full amount without negotiation, the defendant paid the full judgment, including contractual damages, interest, costs (including process server costs), and attorney fees.