Pride and Punctuality

At the risk of sounding like a windbag recounting past adventures, let me start off this piece by saying “there I was on the Baltic Sea coast”.   Yes, I was in Aarhus, Denmark in the north of Jutland. The very neat hotel I was staying at indeed bordered the Baltic Sea and my hotel room on the first floor had a tiny balcony one could sit at and watch the waves splash against the shore.  A caveat being I was there in the dead of winter and it was very cold outside.  Hence instead of sitting on the balcony, I used it as my refrigerator placing my bottles of water out there to keep them cold.

 

It was not my first time in Aarhus as like on this trip I had been there on numerous occasions to speak on the topic of law to companies interested in establishing a subsidiary in the USA. Absolutely love the city. It is beautiful and there is much to see and do there.   But on prior trips I stayed downtown and was well familiar with the building I was slated to speak at.   This time was different, a major bank had asked me to come over and speak to some of their customers.

 

Both the hotel where I was staying and the speaking venue were in the suburbs.  I knew the speaking venue was a short drive away, so I had my taxi waiting for me 30 minutes before the event started.  Since a young age I have always prided myself in being punctual.  A trait that my parents wisely stressed to me.  When I showed up at the speaking venue 20 minutes early, I thought all was well.  But then a bit of panic kicked in.  The driver had not taken me to an office building.  Instead, he drove up to the door of an empty giant soccer stadium.  Visions on being abandoned in the dark on a cold evening being unable to reach my speaking engagement on time raced through my head.  The driver assured me we were at the right destination.  Fortunately, he was correct.  It turns out the bank was a major sponsor of the local soccer team and was using one of the luxury boxes for the presentation.  I was there early and the presentation and meeting went great.

 

When it comes to legal matters, punctuality is not merely an issue of good manners, but a necessity.  Rigid time deadlines are frequently present in legal matters.  There are set times in which a lawsuit must be filed and answered.  The same is true with discovery in litigation.  Timelines are often vital in complying with contracts as well.  Many insurance policies have strict deadlines whereby a person must give their insurer a notice of a claim or lose their coverage.

 

If you are served with a lawsuit, contact your attorney IMMEDIATELY. If it is a matter that you potentially have insurance coverage for contact your insurance company IMMEDIATELY as well. If you wait until the 11^th hour to do so, your attorney may not be available to file a timely answer on your behalf.  Even if he or she can scramble and get an answer filed before the buzzer rings failing to allow them enough time to assess your situation may mean that some potential defenses could be overlooked.

 

The grains of sand in an hour glass are unforgiving.  If you are a day late in meeting a legal time deadline you could wind up several dollars short!  When time is of the essence, call the one you can trust.  Contact Chris today … click here.