Pros and Cons of Litigation
Dohn Hoyle, Partners in Policymaking Faculty Member, Activist and Organizer
29. Pros and Cons of Litigation
There are pros and cons to litigation and, you know we've resorted to that and and I'm really pleased. And, and the Olmstead case is clearly an example of why you should do it. But there are some, people need to weigh pros and cons. The pros, the cons. Let me do that, start that with that first.
The cons are once you get into a certain situation you kind of lose control. Because the direction it gets taken are determined not by what you as a litigant want necessarily but by who the judge is, by what the other side claims, by what the, what the other factors that are gonna enter in. This isn't just a ... it's no longer just a "we said he said" one side or the other thing. It's not, all kinds of other factors come in.
Everything from precedent to history start to matter. Everything from claims that have nothing to do with what you're talking about, to, to the way the way the judicial system works come into play. So you do lose some control and you give up some time. Nothing in the legal system happens quickly. And that's because people get to go back and forth and, and because the the system we've set up as an adversarial system while it might be the best system it still means that each side gets all that time to respond to the other side over and over again.
And, and it can drag on what seems like eternity it, it takes a long time. So there are all kinds of things that will happen. There are times when it might make more sense to try to get legislative change or do something else instead of just suing. And, and I'm, and, I guess if it's bad enough and it's gonna play, it's gonna play well in the media, play other kinds of things. I'd lean more towards litigation. If, on the other hand I wanted to solve something quicker and I, and I felt like I had enough 'oomph' of one kind, or enough capital, enough political piece, enough friends, et cetera. I'd prefer the other way.