Paid the lawyer and court declared default..

phatbashar said:

So basically i was being sued by an insurance company and i hired an attorney....here is quickly put together list of occurences.
1. Got a subpoena from an insurance company
2. Faxed him a copy and met up to give him $1000 to take the case.
3. Said he would “take care of it by settling out of court and getting an extension”
4. We got something in the mail saying we never showed up to court called him and he
said that it was a mistake.
5. We got something in the mail that a judgment was declared at default called me and he
said that it was also a mistake and told me to fax it to him.
6. Called him numerous times afterward with no response to voicemails….
7. Finally I got in contact with him and he told me that our agreement was that I
was to take care of the litigation, which was in no way true, and that everything was
now "my problem" he said that he tried to settle but the insurance company did not
want to….I was never told to do anything, whenever i asked what needed to be
done when i recieved something in the mail his response was "i'll take care of it."

Can i file a complaint or sue this lawyer? He did absolutely nothing for me or my case after telling me would simply "take care of it." If i do sue do i need to prove that i would have won the case or settled out of court of the lawyer had done his job, or does that only apply to a plaintiff? Any input or personal experience would be great.

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CALIF-LAWPRO62 said:

My response:

Garrula, I don't know if it's because of your naivety, or you're gullible, or you're just not experienced enough to spot a flat out lie.

Tell me - - what attorney do YOU know that would accept the representation of a defense case for only $1,000.00? The answer, of course, is "None."

What undoubtedly happened in this case is that the attorney only promised this idiot to be his/her "advisor", and that the litigation would be this writer's responsibility as a "Pro Per."

The $1,000.00 was merely a fee to "advise" this writer as HE conducted his own defense. Now, since this writer has blown his own defense, probably due to inattention or laziness, or a combination of both, and is now realizing that he's in trouble, is looking to "blame" the attorney as an "escape." The writer is going nowhere, fast.

Please, Garrula, read between the lines.

IAAL

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phatbashar said:

This lawyer has taken cases for me twice before and this is why he took the case for a mere $1000. Don't speak before you know the facts, you speak with such confidense as if you were part of this situation. I am not going to stoop to your level and insult you over the internet, becuase only an "idiot" would realize that a fight over a message board would "go nowhere fast."
Thanks for your input!!!

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garrula lingua said:

You don't mention what state this occurred in

You can:
1. Call the atty; tell him you want your money back, as he did nothing to earn it.
2. tell the atty you want X amt, which would be the reduction of the ins claim which you expected.
3. report the atty to the state bar & ask for restitution.

I assume the atty was never the atty of record & never appeared in court for you.
Did you sign a retainer agreement ? Do you have your cancelled check showing pmt ?
The atty may say he was never hired or hired for a different purpose....
What was your expectation of a 'good resolution" by the atty ?
Right now, it sounds as tho you should get your retainer back.
You would have to prove that an atty would have achieved X results, in order to try to get repayment of X dollars. (if the atty was extremely competent, maybe the results would have been the same.)

If you had gone to trial, would you have had a defense, or were you just retaining an atty to try to get a reduction ?

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CALIF-LAWPRO62 said:

My response:

You can stoop wherever you like, but I know, from how you wrote your post, that you're lying. It takes years of experience as an attorney to spot the lie - - and guess what?

You can jump up and down, scream, yell, pound on your chest, cry, and declare to the mountains all you like. But, the assessment of your situation, that I described, has more truth to it than your story.

You're out of luck, and out of gas, Pal.

IAAL

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garrula lingua said:

Well, the best options for you appear to be:
1. try to negotiate an amt he owes you (?more than retainer?), or
2. report him to the bar and let them investigate - this would take time, and they may drop the investigation as 'unfounded'.
3. Sue him in small claims court. The limit there was 5,000, but I believe it changed to 7,000 as of 1/1/06.

Good Luck.

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phatbashar said:

Thank you for actually trying to help me; unlike some other immature people on this board.

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phatbashar said:

I was thinking of taking him to small claims court, but a 20 year old college student going up against a lawyer in court doesn't seem like something that would come out in my favor.

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CALIF-LAWPRO62 said:

My response:

I'm sorry I had the temerity, and the audacity, to see what you're doing and to actually label you as a liar.

You see, as an attorney for 26 years, I've seen "you" before, and can spot people like you a mile away. You think you're fooling people - - but you're not. It's all in your mind.

IAAL

IAAL

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phatbashar said:

I am not trying to fool anyone i'm simply asking for advice, thats what these forums are for; not for bored (26 year lawyers) to go around and and release their anger on everyone else. So if you don't have any legal advice to give to me, than don't post of the ADVICE forums. I'm done responding to your pointless posts, and i refuse to continue to argue with you over in the internet, it gets us nowhere and it is a waste of both of our time.

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