Stop the Barking
Video Transcript: Using cease and desist letters to quiet a noisy neighbor, barking dog in Oklahoma. I’m James Wirth, an attorney in Tulsa. That’s a topic that we have, we’re doing a series on cease and desist letters. This one deals with dealing with a barking dog.
Okay, so a cease and desist letter, it’s informal. It is not a court process, it is not litigation, it is not statutory, but it is a warning and it can be effective in getting results in some cases. And a lot of times, it makes a lot of good sense to do so.
So a cease desist letter normally would be drafted up by an attorney, law office. You put it on the letterhead, the lawyer signs off on it. It explains how what they’re doing violates the law. If we’re talking about a barking dog, that could be violative of a city ordinance and it demands that they cease and desist that activity, or there could be consequences. It explains what the consequences could be, which it could be filing a police report for a criminal referral. It could be filing a civil lawsuit to stop that activity.
So, it gives them an opportunity to cure what they are doing that is wrong, and it can be a faster process and a cheaper process than doing litigation. Moreover if it works, that’s great, it’s done. If it doesn’t, it can set groundwork for litigation or filing a police report, because you can prove and demonstrate that they were on notice that they were violating the law and they refused to comply even though they were given notice of that.
So that’s why you served those by certified mail, so you can prove that they received it or serve it by process server, which sends even a stronger message, but also is proof that they received that notice. And then you can see that they refuse to comply from that point. That sets it up for potential to lay groundwork for a police report or for civil litigation. And that’s why a cease and desist letter can be helpful here. Faster, cheaper may resolve the whole thing, but if not, it can make your civil case stronger.
If you are dealing with this circumstance, want to see what can be done in your situation, you want to talk to an attorney privately and confidentially about that, to get that scheduled with an Oklahoma cease and desist lawyer at my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
