Justice Comes From Many Places
A recent article on Engadget highlighted the increasing and creative use of small claims court to challenge actions taken against their social media accounts from Meta after finding no relief through customer service lines. Frustrated users who have had their Meta-owned accounts locked or suspended, seemingly for no reason, have turned to small claims courts after customer service representatives refused, or were unable, to assist with re-activating their accounts. While it may seem like an extraordinary step to go through to simply get back access to a social media account, a growing number of people rely on such digital profiles for their livelihood and so having another avenue for obtaining relief has become increasingly important to them.
Stories such as these are a good reminder that there is more than way to pursue fairness and equity, whether it’s a class action resolving for hundreds of million dollars after years of litigation to simply showing up for a small claims hearing – with no discovery, no motions and just a single, straightforward hearing – to get back access to a Facebook account.
This means that providing legal representation to a client is not always about immediately charging forward with a lawsuit; rather, it is about first identifying what the client wants and then finding the best way to achieve the client’s goals. Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, that will indeed be to seek recourse in court through a lawsuit; however, at other times that may mean looking for another route that will provide the client with the relief they need now. Maybe that means filing a complaint with the local ordinance enforcement office, engaging in a pre-litigation mediation, or simply sitting down with the other side to talk out all of the disagreements. But remembering that justice comes from many places ensures that a lawyer will give the client the fullest range of options, not just those found inside of a courtroom and in the hands of a jury.