More Trouble......

[Mystere101]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA What happened is we had a mandatory settlement conference scheduled and prior to that the court clerks told me how to send the subpoenas out....they did not mention that a Notice of Consumer was to be sent also, which was the only thing that was missing. I had also sent one to an attorney who did some legal work for my STB ex regarding a large monetary settlement with an employer (over $20K) which he never showed me anything on ever and I wanted to see since I believe he took money out of this settlement prior to the divorce for his "nest egg". This lawyer appeared in court with the papers and the judge gave them to the clerk to hold and I had also received papers that morning from his employer via fax which I handed over to the judge to hold also. His attorney complained about the fact that he did not receive a Notice of Consumer and is positive that I will not be able to see any of these records because he will object to them. (I have not received anything but 2 months of bank statements and pay stubs from them for discovery). I believe that I am entitled to know benefits, bonuses (which he receives but has not claimed) etc. The judge then reset the Mandatory Settlement Conference for a later date (beginning of May) and said I need to reissue the subpoenas.

Now, I have another problem because the attorney that came to court (we had to wait until the last case in the morning because the STB ex's lawyer did not show up or had another case (per the bailiff "we're waiting on his lawyer") until 11:30 when we had to be there at 8:00. This attorney wrote me a letter which states "This letter is to demand payment of $500.00 of attorney fees for 2 hours of work. As you recall, you subpoenaed certain documents from my office. You did so whithout properly following the forms or procedures. Moreover, you failed to serve a copy of the subpoena on the attorney for your husband. Had you properly followed these procedures, I would not have been required to appear in court and wait 2 1/2 to 3 hours for the court to hear the matter. In all liklihood, your husband's attorney would have made his appropriate objections and we could have handled this as appropriately as possible under the California Cold of Civil Procedure. Please remit $400 to my office for the time required to defend this subpoena. If you do not do so within two weeks I will seek a judicial intervention and I will seek attorneys' fees for all the time expended, including travel time and waiting in court. This will amount to approximately $800."

Does he have the right to do this? I feel like he is taking advantage of the situation and as a lawyer he should have just sent a letter as the bank did stating that the subpoena was not complete. What rights do I have and how should I respond?

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by Mystere101

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA What happened is we had a mandatory settlement conference scheduled and prior to that the court clerks told me how to send the subpoenas out....they did not mention that a Notice of Consumer was to be sent also, which was the only thing that was missing. I had also sent one to an attorney who did some legal work for my STB ex regarding a large monetary settlement with an employer (over $20K) which he never showed me anything on ever and I wanted to see since I believe he took money out of this settlement prior to the divorce for his "nest egg". This lawyer appeared in court with the papers and the judge gave them to the clerk to hold and I had also received papers that morning from his employer via fax which I handed over to the judge to hold also. His attorney complained about the fact that he did not receive a Notice of Consumer and is positive that I will not be able to see any of these records because he will object to them. (I have not received anything but 2 months of bank statements and pay stubs from them for discovery). I believe that I am entitled to know benefits, bonuses (which he receives but has not claimed) etc. The judge then reset the Mandatory Settlement Conference for a later date (beginning of May) and said I need to reissue the subpoenas.

Now, I have another problem because the attorney that came to court (we had to wait until the last case in the morning because the STB ex's lawyer did not show up or had another case (per the bailiff "we're waiting on his lawyer") until 11:30 when we had to be there at 8:00. This attorney wrote me a letter which states "This letter is to demand payment of $500.00 of attorney fees for 2 hours of work. As you recall, you subpoenaed certain documents from my office. You did so whithout properly following the forms or procedures. Moreover, you failed to serve a copy of the subpoena on the attorney for your husband. Had you properly followed these procedures, I would not have been required to appear in court and wait 2 1/2 to 3 hours for the court to hear the matter. In all liklihood, your husband's attorney would have made his appropriate objections and we could have handled this as appropriately as possible under the California Cold of Civil Procedure. Please remit $400 to my office for the time required to defend this subpoena. If you do not do so within two weeks I will seek a judicial intervention and I will seek attorneys' fees for all the time expended, including travel time and waiting in court. This will amount to approximately $800."

Does he have the right to do this? I feel like he is taking advantage of the situation and as a lawyer he should have just sent a letter as the bank did stating that the subpoena was not complete. What rights do I have and how should I respond?

You completely and totally ignore him until such time as he properly petitions the judge to order you to pay a portion of your husband's legal fees....then you respond. That was extremely unprofessional in my opinion.