Being inspected by a Federal Judge… we won.
There I was, in a small room with my clients their attorney and myself waiting for a magistrate to come in and attempt to broker a deal between the plaintiff, the US Attorney and us, the defendants.
Unfortunately we had a very difficult US Attorney, known for not compromising. Previously he submitted a required settlement offer demanding full payoff for the $1.2 million dollar debt incurred through a defaulted SBA guaranteed loan. I had submitted an offer of $120,000. $40,000 from each man. We were miles apart.
Then, the door opened and in came the Judge! Woooaw. The Judge! I was surprised as I jumped up in respect to his Honor and was asked to sit back down. He hen introduced himself and asked someone to explain the huge difference between our sides of the settlement.
The lawyer turned to me and nodded and I stood up and began to explain. Short, sweet and to the point.
The judge then began to ask e a series of riveting focused questions, about our process, our experience, our background, and then additionally penetrating questions about our clients and our analysis and conclusion. I was defending my company, myself and my clients…
When the judge was satisfied, he smiled, thanked me ‘for my honesty, passion and excellent preparation’.
He further stated that he understood our position and would go see the US Attorney to see what he had to say. He then came back an hour later, stating the US Attorney was unwilling to change his position but he was considering our arguments.
The Judge proceeded in asking me additional questions regarding the specifics of my five page offer to settle, and in the end he said he had one more question which was his own:
“Are you certain, Mr. Todrin, that your clients are not hiding any money or property in the names of their wives or others?” I thought for a moment and said, “Your honor I cannot be certain as they could be lying to me also, but as an indication of my belief in their financial condition as stated, I have spread my bill over a year, taking small monthly payments, of which October remained unpaid, as of this meeting (Oct 29), and I paid my own way out to this hearing.” The judge smiled and said thank you and left the room to see the US Attorney again.
He came back and said he would award me our offer. I must return to court at the end of the month to complete the process. The Judge further complimented me on our effort commenting that this was excellent work and it was unfortunate that there were not more defenses and presentations of this caliber defending other borrowers in default.
My clients were very happy, the judge was satisfied, and I and my team of dedicated associates, the men who prepared my presentation for me, were all very satisfied, we had done our job and won.
