by TALC » April 8th, 2009, 4:58 am
Hey SA, the letter was ok for the most part but you really need some advice. I'd strongly recommend you seek legal counsel before having anymore communication with ITT. Think of t this way, you spent 20k on it already, the lawyer wont cost you much more for a couple of consultations. Here's the problem:
1) you gave away too much information about what you have and can prove, you aren't scaring them, just letting their lawyers know what kind of threat you pose (not much outside of a PR threat).
2) you blackmailed them. This is a big mistake. You can't threaten them with bad PR if they don't pay you, that's potentially actionable, and cooperation gets better results than threats at this stage. I promise you that their lawyers got involved to some small degree to assess the situation. You are WAY outgunned and making mistakes.
3)Just to reiterate, you are basically asking them for a favor at this point, yes, I said it. They are in command unless you sue, which I saw something about a class action so that may already be in the works. Just keep in mind that they have the money and you're asking for it, threats and arguing about professors or administrators lying will not help. Clearly his letter was written so that he has a record of this process in case this gets to court.
NOTE: This is not legal advice. I am not an attorney and do not have knowledge of the law. You should consult with an attorney for any legal advice you might need. This was not intended to be legal advice, only the opinion and conjecture of a person without any legal knowledge. Any actions taken based on this advice are taken at you own risk. blah blah balh. BUT I'M DEAD SERIOUS, I suck, ignore me.