Legal process going nowhere

In July of 07 I was entered into a civil lawsuit as a defendant by the owner of my previous house that I sold to her in 2005. The lawsuit contends that I had previous knowledge to a leaky roof, and the plaintiff wants restitution of $14K. In August 07, I retained an attorney to represent me, but last week, I finally had it with the level of paper shuffling and a bill to date of $5k, so I sent him a scathing email and now he is asking to be removed as my counsel.
So at this point, we have 4 parties (both realtors, and a contractor from each side) that have agreed to sit at a court ordered mediation to see if we can pony up enough money for the plaintiff to avoid going to trial. The problem is that the plaintiff's lawyer has ignored my lawyer's request for scheduling the mediation, (this has been going on for 2 months) and I think it is the plaintiff's lawyer's game-plan to frustrate me and possibly just settle for the full amount.

My question is, at this juncture of the legal process, can I do without a lawyer and just wait until the plaintiff's attorney schedules a firm date for the mediation process. I'm reaching a point where any money that I have left for a settlement will end up in my lawyer's pocket before long.What is the name of your state?

Sit and hold. They are looking to get money from you so the longer they delay the longer you keep your $$. If they have not acted in a few more months you can petition the court to dismiss the case for failure by the plaintiff to prosecute.

It sounds like you are admitting some liability because spending $5K on an attorney to this point is very high.

$14K is significant for a roof repair. More to this? Inside damage and if so were the repairs necessary, prudent, etc. They may only be entitled to repairs for damaged that occurred after they purchased the property and before they discovered the damage. A leak in a roof is easily repaired for small money.

More info

Thanks for your insight on this matter. The plaintiff replaced the section of roof that leaked at a cost of $2750. She had done extensive re-modeling of the interior structure from 11/06-1/07. Her suit seeks damages of $14k for replacement of the roof, as well as repairing the remodeling that was performed due to the leak + attorney fees. During the remodeling dates there was extensive rainfall on several days, but no damage was reported until January 16th of 2006. It has always been my contention that the catastrophic leak was caused by her remodeling of the internal structure, causing a shift in the roof position. Also in our seller's disclosure we indicated that the roof had leaked in the past, ( drips, not a deluge) and that we had since had it repaired. I actually have rainfall totals for specific dates from NOAA for the zip code that the home is located in, but my attorney didn't seem that interested in the information that I had gathered to support my case. And in admitting partial liability in the suit, no, I don't admit that I misled or knowingly tried to defraud the plaintiff regarding the condition of the roof before the sale. My disclosure admits to the roof leaking previously, and I had it repaired, with no leaks prior to the sale.
Can I "sit tight" without a lawyer? Since the only thing at this point will be the scheduling of the mediation, can I represent myself and deal with the plaintiff's lawyer for this? Thanks again.

There is no law that says you have to have an attorney, so you can sit tight. You should show diligent efforts to schedule mediation so that when you make a motion to dismiss, no one can say they were waiting on you for the mediation.

Also, did the plaintiff have a home inspection completed prior to purchase of the house? If so, you have the right to see that inspection as part of discovery.

Make sure you get ALL the work product from your former attorney. You own that material if your bill with him is settled. He may have already gotten the inspection if there was one.

If the inspection does not show a significant leak, you may be off the hook if you disclosed the minor leak as part of the sale. if the report shows a significant leak and she still bought the house, even better for you.

Good Luck!