Being "litigation-ready."

Litigation-readiness is a concept used by big companies that face multiple lawsuits at any given time. It means that a company is always prepared for litigation. When it arises, the company does not miss a beat in preparing documentation and prioritizing other tasks necessary to the litigation process.

Litigation-readiness is a good concept for small businesses and individuals to implement into their daily lives. Unfortunately, many people face litigation or threats of litigation at some point in their lives. It makes the process easier if you are prepared and can minimize the obstruction that litigation causes to your daily life. Being litigation-ready requires no drastic changes from your current lifestyle. It does not mean that you are willing to sue anything that moves. It suggests nothing about using the legal process offensively. But if you are a defendant or respondent in a lawsuit, litigation-readiness minimizes the stress and anxiety over litigation. Two of the most important things that you can do to be "litigation-ready" are:

• Use a calendar on your smartphone. Put important events in your smartphone and do not delete them after they have passed. Make sure that your calendar is backed-up on occasion, so if your phone breaks, your events are not lost. Past events, even if irrelevant, can rekindle other memories and help create a relevant timeline of events. If you do not have a smartphone, keep a calendar and write important events on it.
• Write stuff down, and get stuff in writing. If you are wronged and the person admits it, get them to write it down. They will be reticent to do this, but if they trust you, they may be willing to do so. This does not mean that you will sue them, but if something happens and you find yourself in litigation, written admissions are extremely powerful pieces of evidence. On the other hand, do not make an admission to someone else if you wronged them, unless you are prepared to write it down. If you do not feel comfortable writing it down, do not make the admission in the first place. This principle extends beyond written admissions: 100 percent of the time, written evidence is better than oral evidence.

Of course, there are other things you can do to be litigation-ready. These are just two of the most important.

How to register for the Mechanics' Notice and Lien Registry.

Over the last several days, I discussed mechanic's liens, and how Iowa lien law changed in 2013. I discussed the importance of registering for the Mechanics' Notice and Lien Registry (MNLR), and posting Notices of Commencement of Work for residential construction projects. The 2013 Iowa Code provides that a person or company cannot enforce a mechanic's lien if proper notice is not provided in residential or commercial constructions projects.

Courts have not decided whether a person or company can enforce a mechanic's lien under the new Iowa law if proper notice was not provided at the beginning of a project. The law is too new for courts to have decided the issue. Not many contractors know about the new law, so it is a near certainty that courts will hear the issue in the next year or two. The way it is written, you cannot enforce a mechanic's lien if you do not provide proper notice. It does not matter if you were not aware of the new law.

In order to register for the MNLR, you need to fill out this form. Then, you need to post commencement of work notices within 10 days of beginning work for residential construction, and provide written notice within 30 days of beginning work for commercial projects. Once you get a handle on the new requirements, I am confident that they will be easy practices to implement. None of the requirements are too burdensome or onerous, but you do need to follow them in order to enforce a mechanic's lien.