If you were to ask me which sentence makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, then comes very high: “It’s about the principle!“.
Only worse is:
“Money does not matter!” (still to come)
When talking to a client, it is sometimes said that the client is only interested in the principle.
The principle is always important when the client cannot justify that the case has any economic benefit and he has legal protection insurance that is ready to finance this nonsense or he hopes for legal aid, which is even worse.
The optimistic client is even sure that the costs for the principle (their own legal fees) will have to be borne by the other side.
Classic cases, which are supposed to be about the principle, among others
- the neighbor has again not removed his leaves
- € 30.00 is still open on an invoice and the debtor has moved to Poland
- € 10.50 of default interest is still outstanding
- the dog was bitten and now you want compensation (for the dog!)
It is only astonishing when it turns out that neither the legal protection nor the state (legal aid) pays their own legal fees, then the principle vanishes and the client now realizes that the case makes no economic sense.
Anyone who objects that € 30 is money and there is no reason to forego it, is right, but then please without a lawyer. You can assert such demands yourself and, if necessary, sue them and decide whether my own time would be spent on them. No normal-thinking person would hire a lawyer if he had to pay € 200 for the lawyer in order to get € 30.
