“Lawsuit.”
I’ve been in three lawsuits. They are horrendous things. It takes ten thousand dollars on average just to get a lawyer to file one. He burns through that at about $500 per hour. You have no control over how much he charges. If you run out of money before anything happens, you’re screwed. Plus, a lawsuit is like the Russian war in Ukraine. The Russians went in expecting one thing and then the other side has a say. They can cause you to run the bill up just by sending you lots of things your lawyer has to respond to.
For one case I suggested a tactic and the lawyer said, “I have a better idea. They have the priciest firm in town and those people will run them out of money shortly. I’ll send over a bunch of things they have to respond to. Their lawyers will love it and we’ll never get to court. You win.” That’s exactly what happened.
There’s an old joke. A small town had one lawyer and he was starving. Then another lawyer moved to town and they both prospered.
The cases you see making the news make the news because they are the exceptions to the rule. The best way to win a lawsuit is not to start one. Whatever happened, suck it up and move on.
You find an attorney who’ll take you pro bono for the cause. They are out there, they’ll work free if they they think you have a decent chance of winning. You pay them after you win like Nick Sandman and Lin Wood.