Malpractice against client

[gldndia1]

What is the name of your state?
California

Here is my situation. I have been involved in a law suit for the past two years. This case was taken on an hourly basis ($350.00 per hour) and it has finally come down to my deposition which at this point is the last that is scheduled. The trial is set for the end of this year. My health has been very poor throughout the duration of this lawsuit and I have unable to work, as a result it has been a struggle to pay the attorney fees. At one point when I got behind on my bill our attorney threatened to petition the judge to be dropped as our attorney. We did pay him up to date and from then on have been current each month. At one point when discussing our finical situation we were told by him ‘our lawyer’ that “The level of motivation and determination I show is contingent on how well I am being paid.” For almost a year (in August of 2008 it will be a year) he has been saying we have won our cross complaint (A slander – defamation suit) and he is preparing a Summary Judgment that he promised to file back in September 2007, but to this day it has not been done. He has made many promises and done none of them. The most he has done is show up to the depositions while I have prepared all of the discovery. (Could this have all been over a year ago if he had done as promised? Has he simply been making as much money from us as possible by dragging this on?) After my deposition he appeared very happy, later that same day we received a phone call from him telling us that he had sent a 998 Demand asking for a specific amount of money. He chose the amount without consulting us in any way and told us that the letter had “already been sent.” Then he went on to say that he had discussed it with his partner and that they were now willing to take our case on contingency and that they did not want us to have to worry about the monthly payments anymore. (All we owe his firm at this point is the cost of my deposition) Our bill is current. He went on to say “I have already typed up the contacts for the contingency and they are ready to be signed.” If there is a settlement he would get 30% and if it went to court then he would get 40%. There is nothing scheduled, not any more depositions or discovery until trial. Now I am worried that if I do not sign the paper agreeing to the contingency that he will not do his best or have my best interest at heart. He has made it clear that the more money he is making the more motivation he has.
Is it legal for him to have asked for a specific settlement amount without consulting his client first? Shouldn’t my signature have to be on that document? Is it ethical or legal to change from hourly to contingency when it is clear that it is the last hour? What can I do about this without causing harm to my case at this point? He has called several times trying to get us to come in and sign the contingency contract and he is very convincing as though he were doing this FOR us. How do we handle this without worrying that he will screw our case up? We don’t trust him now but wouldn’t it look bad to get another lawyer at the end? This case is also extremely complicated and would be very hard to catch another lawyer up to date. There are boxes and boxes of discovery dealing with this case.
Thank you

[Ozark_Sophist]

Does the contingency include what you have already paid? Thus if you have paid 20,000 and are awarded 100,000 at trial, he gets another 20,000?