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Comment by byoung2 | Hacker News Reader

As a former hiring manager, I can say I have never taken the time to google a candidate for lawsuits. If you settle out of court before going to trial, there is usually a nondisclosure and no public record.

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If you settle, the complaint and other docket records are public record. There are sites that now publish lots of court records, so just googling a name may bring up lawsuits filed by that person. You don’t need to google specifically for court records.

My point was about settling before filing in court. The sequence is this:

  1. Have your lawyer send a demand letter
  2. Request a case management conference/arbitration
  3. Reach settlement
  4. File in court (filing now public)
  5. Reach settlement (settlement private)
  6. Court judgment (judgment public)

The goal is to stop at step 3 where it is not yet public. The company will not want the filing public because of bad publicity. If it gets this far, they would rather stop at step 5 than 6.

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