Ask any business, and they’ll tell you; lawsuits are to be expected in the world of business. That is why your company’s PR department is crucial for longevity and success.
Do you know what to do if a lawsuit is being publicly released? If there is a lawsuit is looming over your business, then you need to have a communication strategy in place. Take a look at these tips to make sure that your company has a proper crisis communications plan.
Even if you do not have a lawsuit that can be announced against your company, it would be in your company’s best interests if you drafted one. You and your team need to be prepared, and having a crisis communication strategy in place with civil litigation experts will help to prepare you. This way, your company will be fully prepared to respond in the best way possible should a lawsuit be filed against your company.
If you haven’t Prepared a Crisis Plan
A lawsuit shouldn’t take your PR team by surprise. In most cases, there has been a series of incidents that lead to a trial. Of course, this won’t be one hundred percent of the time, but it is generally true. Your PR team should be prepared for a lawsuit against your company because they have already been dealing with the incidents before leading up to the public trial. This could come from an employee termination that was not accepted or executed well or a public incident.
If, however, the preparation hasn’t been done, then you and your PR team will need to do some damage control. Take a look at these things that your PR team should be doing if there is a lawsuit has been filed, and you have minimum crisis preparation:
- Avoid Direct Communication with the Plaintiff
Anything that a business owner says about a lawsuit could be used against him or her. Contacting the plaintiff directly can be severely detrimental to your business. The legal team should first examine the lawsuit, and from there, any communication should be launched via the legal team.
Even if you feel the need to reach out to the plaintiff to attempt to reach an amicable agreement, you could end up causing severe damaging to your case. In fact, as soon as a lawsuit was filed, the chance for an amicable agreement disappeared.
In the event that the plaintiff is a person that is seen on a daily basis, an employee or someone/company that you have business relations with, it is imperative that it is made clear that nothing at all to do with the lawsuit will be directly discussed. Anything and everything that relates to the lawsuit should be left to the two legal teams handling the lawsuit.
- Rapid Response
In all cases, it is best to respond as quickly as possible. This rapid response helps to alleviate some of the negative impacts on your company and can curb some of the adverse effects. In the event that there is no pre planned crisis management plan, then your team should draft on, immediately. The quicker the PR team can gain some ground, the better the outcome. The plan should center around communications and should be mindful that the public opinion is often determined in the primary stages of a public case. Therefore, this can either be good news or bad news for the company. In any event, your PR team should work to make sure that a response is ready as soon as possible.
When drafting a response, your PR team should remember that, along with being fast; transparency is another crucial element. Because the digital age has brought with it an influx of information and communication, it is imperative that the response is both swift and transparent. Your company’s online reputation is, and the PR team should be ready to communicate via social media and digital mediums what is going on at all times.
- Stay in Charge
In the digital world, it is all too easy for media outlets to pick up story angles and run with them. Therefore, companies would do well to defend their narrative in the online world. Merely allowing the story to be told by outsiders is no longer the only option. Through the medium of tweets and other social media outlets, the PR team should be quick to hold the narrative and allow the story to be told without a constant barrage of negative points from outside media sources.
The PR team should know what will be publicly disclosed due to the lawsuit. Depending on your type of business, this could mean that stakeholders could be affected. In order to manage potential fear and negative outcomes, the PR team should be communicating to those stakeholders that could be affected. In cases where a company has a public lawsuit filed against it, one of the biggest mistakes to make is to avoid communication with key stakeholders. Your PR team can help to dispel rumors by opening a clear channel of honest communication with these stakeholders and those affected.
Ideally, the PR team should be reaching out to the key stakeholders before the media publishes the story.
- The Response
Every lawsuit has a time limit, or a deadline, for when the plaintiff can issue a response. The response should cover the following:
– Denial or admittance to the allegations
– Defenses and counterclaims
– State whether your company requests a jury trial or a settlement
- Media Strategy
The PR company should have a strategic plan for dealing with the media. All stakeholders should be briefed with talking points, and this should cover all types of communication and marketing aspects; email, social, website, and even internal communications.
Remember that all members of the PR team, as well as all company employees, are on the same page and briefed consistently. When your company has a lawsuit filed against it, then transparency and consistent communication are the keys to successful damage control.