Legal slang analogy to a threatened turtle pulling its head and limbs into its shell and not-communicating in the face of a problem or threat. It refers to a party, particularly one that has send a warning letter, ‘nasty-gram,’ cease-and-desist letter, demand letter or letter-before-action and received a tough response, rebutting or debunking positions taken in that letter, going silent and not engaging in further correspondence. Turtle-ing is problematic for the recipient of the ‘nastygram’ because it leaves them with no idea whether the matter is closed, though it does give rise to potential issue for the turtle-er, depending on applicable law, of undue delay, acquiescence, estoppel and laches.