Conflict of Interest

[sofiawhit]

California .... My attorney refused to take a statement from a very important defense witness in my case in order to protect the witness from retribution from the defendant and their attorney. (The witness was employed by the company I sued and they and their attorney had threatened her with termination for not signing a declaration that supported their position) I settled the case for a reduced amount because without that witness my case was difficult to prove. Later, as I reviewed my file, I found emails back and forth from my attorney to the defense witness. My attorney had advised this witness on her potential for a case and in the email stated that she could not tell anyone that the two of them spoke or had been emailing each other. The subject line of their emails was entitled " Confidential Attorney Client Communication". This took me by suprise as this witness was not her client I was! After reading the emails it became obvious that my attorney had prevented me from using this witness for my case in order to protect her hoping that she could take on her case in the future. This adversely affected my case. Is this conflict of interest?

The second problem that I had was that my attorney ignored a request by the defendant for certain documents. Because the defense did not receive these documents they sued me in a cross complaint. The cross complaint was dropped at the settlement conference but it still caused a great deal of difficulty for me in many ways. Why would I be held responsible for the actions or inaction of my attorney?

This attorney also charged me double the costs she paid out. When I asked this office for a detailed bill they refused to give me one. Am I entitled to a detailed summary of costs? Is there any way I can make my attorney send me this documentation? Why would this attorney refuse to send me this documentation?
Thank You! Sofia Whitacre

[azlawstudent]

I would contact the California State Bar and tell them about this situation.

Their website is [url=http://www.calbar.ca.gov]The State Bar of California[/url], or you can call 1-800-843-9053 to lodge a complaint against an attorney.

They will provide you with the specific steps you need to take in this matter.

[Dandy Don]

Which situation are you advising this person to tell the bar about--the witness matter or the fee billing, or both?

Did you sign a fee agreement/contract with him in the beginning and were his fees/hourly rates mentioned in it? You are entitled to a detailed, itemized billing (how did you find out you were being charged double the costs)?

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)