Lawyer's mistake, but I am charged?

[MrsHoff]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Alabama

Hired an attorney for family court matter. Received bill shortly after court date. A few weeks later the lawyer called to tell us that the papers he filed were rejected due to an error he made but not to worry about it that he would fix it. He refiled the papers and they were accepted by the court. Today i get another bill that is TWICE as much as the first one and has new charges on it such as:

*edits to order & meet w/ judge-$52.50
*draft IWO & submit to court- $35
*parties regarding rejection- $35
*file order- $35
*review alacourt & calls to client- $35
*Final order letter- $35
*farewell letter- $35

Can he legally charge me for his mistake on the paperwork? It was basically a modification for a divorce decree & child support order that was established in 2007.

 

[nrknlknek]

Simple answer: Yes.

As stated in past posts, the legal profession is one of the last jobs where compensation is based solely on the exertion of time. So, if a lwayer spends time on a matter, the client gets charged for that time irrespective of how the time was spent or the quality of any resulting work products. This is beginning to change as more governance is imposed on the profession, but that's the way it is today.

 

[xylene]

When you asked:

"why are you charging me twice to draft and file then redraft and refile paperwork that was reject because of your admitted error?"

What was the lawyer's reply?

 

[MrsHoff]

I havent been able to get in touch with him. He has taken 2 weeks leave because his wife just had a baby.

 

[Dandy Don]

Did you get a specific explanation as to what the error was? If the bill does not show billable hours (a mention of the exact hours and minutes spent on each task) then ask for a corrected billing that shows billable hours. You can either pay the bill or don't pay it and then file a complaint with your state bar association.

If you got the services you needed and if you will be using or needing this same attorney's services in the future, then please overlook the error and go ahead and pay the bill. If you don't want to continue using him, get another attorney, which sounds like an excellent idea if you don't want the same error to occur from him again in the future.