PING: Ruining Competitors More Efficient than Lawsuit?URL: http://www.vehicleinfo.com/AutoMuse/archives/2005/05/ruining_competi.htmlIP: 208.225.80.105BLOG NAME: AutoMuseDATE: 05/04/2005 08:27:55 AMFrom ContractsProf Blog: Quote of the Day, a wonderful quote and follow story about Cornelius Vanderbilt’s very successful alternative dispute resolution strategy. HT: RiskProf…

“You have undertaken to cheat me.  I won’t sue you, for the law is too slow.  I’ll ruin you.”

                  Cornelius Vanderbilt

This is the text of a letter to Charles Morgan and Cornelius K. Garrison, the managers of the Accessory Transit Company, which operated steamships between New York and Nicaragua.  They had abused a power of attorney to take control of it from him while he was on vacation at sea.  Within a few months, he had set up a new rival company providing service to Panama, cut prices drastically to undercut his former business, and bought back enough stock to retake control over Accessory Transit—in much less time than a legal proceeding would have taken.