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Lawyer stole my money and negligently had my $130K+ lawsuit dismissed!

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jessica051182

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? I live in WV but lawyer and case that was dismissed was out of Maryland where I resided at that time

I will try and make this as short as possible with the fact that this is a very lengthy and time consuming ordeal, but will include as many important details as possible. Any and all comments and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.:)

I ordered 2 motorcycles(worth approx $11k for one and $8K for the other) through a dealership in MI to have my father as a co-signer on my loan(best rate and it was close to my birthday;) ), and the motorcycles were driven to where my father was to have him sign, and then delivered to my home in MD at the time.

Realized after the first bill was sent to my fathers, when I called to have the mailing address changed to mine, that I was no where on the loan AT ALL, that the interest rates and monthly payment amounts had been changed since the contract was signed, and we(or my father) owed over $30,000 on TWO HSBC credit cards. To make this part of the story short, we were frauded/mislead/tricked into a sale.

Contacted BBB in MI and after months of bickering back and forth, it was "administratively closed" because it needed to be taken to a different level that the BBB couldnt assist with. It was a legal situation.

So I find this lawyer "Mike" who agree's to take my case, and strongly believes we have the GREATEST opportunity to prove fraud, and a possible $130,000 lawsuit, but he needed a $3,500 retainor fee to get us to the actual trial and/or settlement if any.

"Mike" files suit on the dealership, AND the motorcycle manufacturers(might I add two of the largest names in motorcycle manufacturing ever!) who have NOTHING to do with this at all. which I confronted him about, and he states that their name is on the statements and some letterhead, so that makes them a responsible party in the case. I figured he knew what he was doing, and unknowingly went along with his business. After both motorcycle companies filed counter lawsuits and dismissals, and many dismissal hearings later, "Mike" drops both of them, and keeps it with the dealership. Who files a dismissal based on the fact that there werent any allegations at ALL in the original complaint, only a few allegations were entered as an ANSWER to their dismissal.

So the honorable judge tells us in court that he cannot file allegations in an answer to a dismissal, but "Mike" has to file an amended complaint within 30 days of that hearing or it would be dismissed because of lack of required information that it takes to FILE a lawsuit.

On the way out the door, my lawyer demands more money from me, and states he will withdraw from my case, after the amended complaint is filed, which I will lose if I do not come up with more money. I confronted him about using my $3500 for having to fight the manufactoring companies even though he did so without my consent or knowledge. He gave me some more lines of BS, and I went on my way, to go figure out how I am going to ask my father for more money, after just having him fork out $3500 a few weeks before.

Well he filed an attempt of an amended complaint, but AGAIN:eek: did not include ANY allegations, only claiming fraud by the company. they filed another dismissal, and the judge granted it, without even giving me or us a hearing because the lawyer failed to follow direct instructions from the judge himself.

MEANWHILE I receive an itemized bill from "Mike" which states he only spent 7.15 hours on my case, at $200 per hour, and his bill states that equals $1,750, if you use a calculator, that equals $1,430. It also states I only paid $1915, not the $3500 that I have a credit card statement for! So that is nearly $2,000 unaccounted for! Which "Mike" denies, and says he will "look into it" and get back to me. ALL in ALL, I have what? 30 days to file an appeal on my case or end up paying upwards of $50,000-$100,000 for these 2 motorcycles on credit cards with 18% interest, or fear I will ruin my fathers good name and credit, or can I bring legal action against him for the case that he cost me??

Thanks for making it this far, I appreciate all of you! I need my money back to hire another lawyer, one who can appeal this case and/or bring suit against "Mike". I know I will lose my other case if I wait or cannot afford another attorney. I recently found out I am expecting baby # 3 and my husband has recently been laid off, so I am the only breadwinner of our home! Again, any and ALL suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks so much
Jessica Wilson
 
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Dandy Don

Senior Member
Did you or your father sign any type of agreement/contract with this attorney when you hired his services? What types of law did this attorney specialize in--civil law, contract law, what? Consider filing a complaint against him with the Maryland State Bar. You were shafted but you are not likely to get your money back in quick fashion.

Did that agreement state what his hourly rate was for his services?

It seems like this incompetent attorney brought about charges in this case that were totally irrelevant or unrelated to what actually happened to you.

Who signed the contract for the motorcycles--you and your father or just him? Neither of you should have signed if you thought something was wrong (that your name wasn't on it).

Since your first attorney messed this up royally, you need different representation for your appeal (and your new attorney can show you how to fire the old attorney). You need to be talking to 5-6 different business law attorneys until you find one willing to look at your contract to give you specific reasons about whether the contract is wrong or breakable--is the interest rate too high or legally allowable? Your first lawsuit failed because you did not give specific reasons why the contract was wrong. Just because you had buyer's remorse your argument that this is fraud is weak.

Ask your attorney if there is ANYTHING you can do to get out of this contract--returning the motorcycles to the dealership or anything else--otherwise you are stuck to keep your original agreement. You knew better than to sign it if you could not afford it.
 
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