What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? ND
In Sept 2007 a coworker and I visited an attorney about an employment issue. The original attorney quoted a fee of approximately $1000.00 split between the two of us. He later called and said he was unable to represent us due to a conflict of interest. We visited an attorney from a different firm and presented our issues. She indicated that we had a very strong case. She never addressed fees and we did not ask. Our case went to a hearing at which I feel we were grossly underrepresented. The employers board violated their written policies and our attorney did not object. At the end of the hearing the attorney said she would get in touch with us. The hearing was in October 2007. Our suspension ended in February 2008 and we have both been back at work with no problems since that date. Until today there has been no contact from the attorney. Today (18 mnths later) I received a bill for $5490.40. I have no issue in paying the attorney, I plan to live in this town the rest of my life and don't wish to be unfair. There are however, arithmetic errors on the bill as well as time errors, charging 3 hours to attend a meeting that lasted 20 minutes with an additional hour of travel time(which is fair). It has been so long, I don't even remember how much of the office time she spent with me is correct as I didn't think it neccessary to keep a diary of our appointments. My questions are; Do I have any recourse in this matter? We never discussed any fees and we signed nothing. I have no issue paying her fairly, but I think this amount is unfair. She also billed for doing specific research that I did and took to her office. Can I be charged for both mileage to attend a meeting and an hourly wage while driving? She also charged us for 2 hours to discuss appealing the suspension and we had appealed the suspension before we consulted either attorney. What do the professionals think?
In Sept 2007 a coworker and I visited an attorney about an employment issue. The original attorney quoted a fee of approximately $1000.00 split between the two of us. He later called and said he was unable to represent us due to a conflict of interest. We visited an attorney from a different firm and presented our issues. She indicated that we had a very strong case. She never addressed fees and we did not ask. Our case went to a hearing at which I feel we were grossly underrepresented. The employers board violated their written policies and our attorney did not object. At the end of the hearing the attorney said she would get in touch with us. The hearing was in October 2007. Our suspension ended in February 2008 and we have both been back at work with no problems since that date. Until today there has been no contact from the attorney. Today (18 mnths later) I received a bill for $5490.40. I have no issue in paying the attorney, I plan to live in this town the rest of my life and don't wish to be unfair. There are however, arithmetic errors on the bill as well as time errors, charging 3 hours to attend a meeting that lasted 20 minutes with an additional hour of travel time(which is fair). It has been so long, I don't even remember how much of the office time she spent with me is correct as I didn't think it neccessary to keep a diary of our appointments. My questions are; Do I have any recourse in this matter? We never discussed any fees and we signed nothing. I have no issue paying her fairly, but I think this amount is unfair. She also billed for doing specific research that I did and took to her office. Can I be charged for both mileage to attend a meeting and an hourly wage while driving? She also charged us for 2 hours to discuss appealing the suspension and we had appealed the suspension before we consulted either attorney. What do the professionals think?
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