Can we ignore opposing attorney's requests since the lawsuit hasn't been filed?

[MichaelJohnson]

CA

My company was fired as property managers by an old man. We told him we were going to sue him since we had a yearlong agreement and he cancelled it 4 months in. We told the old man to retain an attorney. We received a letter from an attorney saying he has been “contacted” but not “retained” by the old man. The attorney requested a bunch of information. We know from dealing with the old man that he will not write a check to retain an attorney (since he is cheap and going crazy) and likely merely contacted this person for advice. Here are my questions:
1. Do we need to provide the attorney with anything since he has not made it clear he has been retained? We are worried about providing confidential information, and also think that he has not been officially retained.
2. The information the attorney requested is already held by the old man and would take time, effort, and money on our parts to provide it to the lawyer. Can we tell the lawyer to get it from the old man? I don’t think discovery rules apply at this point, and I do not want to make his job any easier, and prefer to make the old man have to provide all the documentation as I don’t see a reason to give him any favors.
3. The lawyer asked for documentation that our management company was terminated. It was only orally told to us that we were terminated, will that suffice? Need we provide anything we do not deem as relevant?
Any other advice is appreciated.

 

[latigo]

CA

My company was fired as property managers by an old man. We told him we were going to sue him since we had a yearlong agreement and he cancelled it 4 months in. We told the old man to retain an attorney. We received a letter from an attorney saying he has been “contacted” but not “retained” by the old man. The attorney requested a bunch of information. We know from dealing with the old man that he will not write a check to retain an attorney (since he is cheap and going crazy) and likely merely contacted this person for advice. Here are my questions:
1. Do we need to provide the attorney with anything since he has not made it clear he has been retained? We are worried about providing confidential information, and also think that he has not been officially retained.
2. The information the attorney requested is already held by the old man and would take time, effort, and money on our parts to provide it to the lawyer. Can we tell the lawyer to get it from the old man? I don’t think discovery rules apply at this point, and I do not want to make his job any easier, and prefer to make the old man have to provide all the documentation as I don’t see a reason to give him any favors.
3. The lawyer asked for documentation that our management company was terminated. It was only orally told to us that we were terminated, will that suffice? Need we provide anything we do not deem as relevant?
Any other advice is appreciated.

No response would be required even if the shyster was "retained".

But did you really need to ask?

[SUP]No response required here either[/SUP]

 

[Zigner]

Did you follow up with correspondence showing the business relationship had been terminated at the time? IE: Did you send a letter to the other party stating something like: "Based upon your verbal request, we are canceling the contract between us." ?

 

[Just Blue]

CA

My company was fired as property managers by an old man. We told him we were going to sue him since we had a yearlong agreement and he cancelled it 4 months in. We told the old man to retain an attorney. We received a letter from an attorney saying he has been “contacted” but not “retained” by the old man. The attorney requested a bunch of information. We know from dealing with the old man that he will not write a check to retain an attorney (since he is cheap and going crazy) and likely merely contacted this person for advice. Here are my questions:
1. Do we need to provide the attorney with anything since he has not made it clear he has been retained? We are worried about providing confidential information, and also think that he has not been officially retained.
2. The information the attorney requested is already held by the old man and would take time, effort, and money on our parts to provide it to the lawyer. Can we tell the lawyer to get it from the old man? I don’t think discovery rules apply at this point, and I do not want to make his job any easier, and prefer to make the old man have to provide all the documentation as I don’t see a reason to give him any favors.
3. The lawyer asked for documentation that our management company was terminated. It was only orally told to us that we were terminated, will that suffice? Need we provide anything we do not deem as relevant?
Any other advice is appreciated.

Why do you keep referring to the exclient as "old man"? Rather rude and unprofessional. You also stated that the exclient is "going crazy"...Do you have a PhD that qualifys you to make such a judgement?

 

[Nellibelle]

CA

My company was fired as property managers by an old man. We told him we were going to sue him since we had a yearlong agreement and he cancelled it 4 months in. We told the old man to retain an attorney. We received a letter from an attorney saying he has been �contacted� but not �retained� by the old man. The attorney requested a bunch of information. We know from dealing with the old man that he will not write a check to retain an attorney (since he is cheap and going crazy) and likely merely contacted this person for advice. Here are my questions:
1. Do we need to provide the attorney with anything since he has not made it clear he has been retained? We are worried about providing confidential information, and also think that he has not been officially retained.
2. The information the attorney requested is already held by the old man and would take time, effort, and money on our parts to provide it to the lawyer. Can we tell the lawyer to get it from the old man? I don�t think discovery rules apply at this point, and I do not want to make his job any easier, and prefer to make the old man have to provide all the documentation as I don�t see a reason to give him any favors.
3. The lawyer asked for documentation that our management company was terminated. It was only orally told to us that we were terminated, will that suffice? Need we provide anything we do not deem as relevant?
Any other advice is appreciated.

Was your year long agreement an oral agreement or a written contract? Although you have the right to sue for a breach of such contract, it may be much harder if it was an oral contract. Sounds like the old man's attorney is playing games by asking you for documentation that your management company was terminated. You either was or wasn't and the old man can best answer that question.

 

[Ohiogal]

Was your year long agreement an oral agreement or a written contract? Although you have the right to sue for a breach of such contract, it may be much harder if it was an oral contract. Sounds like the old man's attorney is playing games by asking you for documentation that your management company was terminated. You either was or wasn't and the old man can best answer that question.

Old man? If he quit working, he would be able to show he was terminated.