Gas Prices

The Rising Costs of Litigation: Part I, Gas Prices

Ever since the pandemic started and the huge stimulus packages were passed, economists have been warning about the rise of inflation. Regardless of the multiple factors that go into rising prices, it seems that their predictions have come true.

We have seen crazy spikes in prices on commodities like lumber and food. And while lumber prices have subsided, the price of gasoline has slowly risen over the last year and half. Now with the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, we have seen gas prices shoot up dramatically, hitting well over $4 a gallon throughout South Florida. In other states, prices have gone over $6 a gallon.

These fundamental economic price increase end up driving up prices all around, and in the this series of brief articles, we’ll discuss how inflation in 4 key areas are driving up the cost of inflation… and what can be done about it.

The first is the price of gasoline.

It isn’t immediately obvious how this would be affecting litigation. A lot of hearing are actually being held online through video conferences these days.
However, serving subpoenas still requires a lot of driving, and a lot of gas.

It’s no wonder that a lot of litigation support companies are seizing on this opportunity to justify an increase in their prices.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Ultimately, we believe that these prices will eventually come down, and through the use better technologies to improve communication and scheduling, we can increase efficiencies and actually offset the rising cost of fuel.

When a law firm is operating at scale and sending having process served on several subpoenas at a time, we have found ways to optimize service and maintain our prices, and in some cases, depending on volume, actually decrease them.

There are multiple other factors that are driving up costs associated with litigation, but you don’t have to believe that just because the price of gas has gone up dramatically, that the price of serving process should go up even more.

If you’d like to learn more about how DLE is Deflating Litigation Expenses, reach out. We’d be happy explain how we can help keep your costs in check, even in the face overwhelming inflation.