Negotiating with Bullies (Part Two)

Bullies use various tactics to try to pressure you into an unfavorable deal. Some bullies try to “win” a negotiation through a series of increasingly more outrageous demands. In a variation of this theme, the bully gives you an unreasonably short time to consider his demand and notes that future demands will escalate dramatically.

Don’t let escalating demands control the timing or terms of the negotiation.

Photo by Veri Ivanova on Unsplash

To be sure, you should critically reexamine your strategy throughout the negotiation. Do your research. Challenge your assumptions. Reevaluate the pros and cons of the escalating demands. But unless extrinsic evidence convinces you that your strategy is flawed, don’t give in.

The person with the least amount of interest controls the negotiation. Holding fast to your reasonable position can help turn the tables on a bully.

Many years ago, I represented a man who had been sued by a classic bully. The bully claimed that my client — the former president of his company — was competing unfairly by starting a competing business after the bully fired him. The bully stopped making severance payments to my client and sought to crush his competition.

The bully had no basis for his claims. My client had not signed any restrictive covenants. He took no confidential information with him. And he had worked in the industry for many years before he joined the bully’s company. My client was legally authorized to use his skills and knowledge to compete fairly against the bully.

I reached out to the bully’s attorney, outlined the flaws in the bully’s claims, and noted that the bully owed my client four months of severance pay. We asked him to dismiss his claims and pay my client what he was owed.

The bully refused and tried to turn up the heat on my client. We ignored his increasing demands.

We took the deposition of the bully’s star witness, who had sworn that the allegations in the Complaint were true. At the end of his deposition, the witness acknowledged that he had no first-hand knowledge about anything in the Complaint. Rather, he conceded that the Complaint was based on “rumor and innuendo.”

We again asked the bully to dismiss his claims and pay my client what he was owed. The bully again refused and increased his demands.

Armed with the testimony of the star witness, we prepared four motions seeking to dismiss all of the bully’s claims. We again invited the bully to dismiss his claims and pay my client what he was owed. The bully again refused and, once again, increased his demands on my client.

I had great fun arguing the motions. The judge ruled from the bench and granted each of the motions in turn.

When the judge left the courtroom, the bully’s lawyer turned to me and frantically asked if our offer was still on the table. I assured him that it had expired, as we had warned it would.

We had turned the tables on the bully. Ultimately, my client recovered the monies he was entitled to receive plus his attorneys’ fees spent in defending the case.