In its first month in business, Veitengruber Law made about $500.00. After spending thousands to start a functioning NJ law firm, it was clear the business wouldn’t be sustainable without a major change. George Veitengruber thought his hard work would be over before it even really began. And then he got a strange case.
He had been hired to represent a bridal shop that was about to be evicted by its landlord for failure to pay rent. The shop owners expressed that 50 – 70 brides would be impacted by the closing of the bridal shop. The landlord planned to evict that week. What started as an eviction defense case would quickly turn into so much more.
George explained that after eviction, the locks would be changed, and any merchandise left in the shop could be seized by the landlord. He advised the bridal shop to take the dresses with them before the official eviction date.
The shop owners took this advice seriously. After removing all dresses from the shop, they stored them at the offices of Veitengruber Law! As the brides showed up to the bridal shop with their families and soon-to-be husbands looking for answers, the business owners handed them a Veitengruber Law business card and said "Call our attorney," who would explain it all.
Over the next two months, the number of brides affected grew to 150. They were all at risk of not having a dress in time for their wedding, and chaos ensued. The brides had invested money in these dresses and were concerned about how best to protect that investment—as well as needing to try them on periodically for alterations. There were days that the conference room at Veitengruber Law looked more like a dressing suite with brides trying on dresses and asking “How does it look?”
This went on for months. George worked through this case and more than 80% of those brides either got a full refund or were able to receive their dresses for their big day. One client received all of her dress money back AND had most of her wedding paid for due to the press she received concerning the situation.
We were able to find a solution that allowed everyone involved to walk away from the situation on even footing. This one weird case put Veitengruber Law on the map and proved we are a law firm ready to roll with even the most unusual of cases.