Attorney's Judgment

[matthewtman]

What is the name of your state? California

I am a student in Santa Barbara, but my legal matter and parents are in Fresno, CA.

I let an investor buy into a piece of property I have. He breached our contract and committed fraud, so I hired an attorney. Later I found out that the investor has a well-known reputation for taking advantage of people, and the attorney I hired has an even better well-known reputation for questionable practices.
Two of the attorneys I talked to had already been in suits against him, and the attorney (G.M.) that I replaced him with for the breach and fraud case is currently suing him for someone else.

Problem: In April, I was served by him with a lawsuit against me for the balance of the bill he is charging me for; $ 8,250. I had already given him
$ 7,000. Previously, both attorneys told me not to give him another dime, because all he did was screw up my case, and the one is fixing it.
They said since he did not give me a Notice to Arbitrate, he could not make me pay him anything. I was going to file a Client's Request for Arbitration I had filled out for the CA State Bar, but they wanted $ 750 for me to do that, and I didn't have the funds.
Enclosed with the Summons was a Notice to be at a Case Management Conference, June 20th, so I didn't think I had to do anything until then.
I called the day before to verify it was still on, and was told that it was cancelled.
I got served the next night, and told I had to be in court the next day, in Fresno, at 1:30PM. My Mom called my attorney on the fraud case, and he was not in, but his paralegal, Cathy, attended the hearing for me. The hearing was to receive an automatic Judgment, because I did not respond to the Summons within 30 days.
The Attorney did not show up, so Cathy sent him a letter, which he responded by saying that he was going to request another hearing.
My attorney sent a letter to me saying that if he represented me in this case, he would require a $ 2,500 ($ 1,500 nonrefundable) retainer.
He knows I only make about $ 1,200 monthly at my night job while I am interning, and my parents are paying him the $ 1,000 monthly to represent me on the other case, so there was no way that I, or my parents, could afford him.
I decided I would just attend the next scheduled hearing myself, and request that arbitration be set up, but instead I received a letter November 17th stating that if I do not pay him the full amount of the Judgment that he received, July 15th, that he was going to attach my wages, and start foreclosure proceedings on my property in litigation.
I found out from my current attorney that he did not have to notify me of the hearing he rescheduled, July 15th, so I lost by Default. He said for the previously requested retainer of $ 2,500 that he would try to get the Judgment dismissed, but he could not guarantee anything.

Questions:
Can I fill out the paperwork to Request a Motion for the Judgment to be set aside? If so, are there forms for that, or a sample form I can locate to go by?

My Mom signed the Retainer Agreement with me when we hired this attorney, and she was named on my Summons. I called the court and they said that he removed her name from the lawsuit.
Can my Mom file the Client Request for Arbitration, or sue him for malpractice?

Is there any recourse I could use?

Your response will be very much appreciated.

Dr. T