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Have a dispute with attorney who withdrew from our case for costs and fees

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curiousv

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

1. Car accident personal injury claim.

2. Attorney withdrew from personal injury claim because he did not believe in our claim whole heatedly and did not want to try the case. i.e. he withdrew without good cause.

3. We settled directly with insurance company and settlement is quite more than he recommended and I could reduce subrogation costs to less than half.

4. Now he is asking for costs and fees and we don't agree to pay him any fees at all. Costs were about 3k and about 1k of this cost was due to his mistakes. We don't mind paying him 2k in costs.

5. If we don't agree to this what can attorney possibly do to recover his full costs and possibly some fees? What are the consequences for us if we don't have agreement and we don't pay him at all?

6. I believe he has to file a lawsuit and get a judgment against me? or he can directly sell it to collection agencies ? What else he or his law firm can do?
 


quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

1. Car accident personal injury claim.

2. Attorney withdrew from personal injury claim because he did not believe in our claim whole heatedly and did not want to try the case. i.e. he withdrew without good cause.

3. We settled directly with insurance company and settlement is quite more than he recommended and I could reduce subrogation costs to less than half.

4. Now he is asking for costs and fees and we don't agree to pay him any fees at all. Costs were about 3k and about 1k of this cost was due to his mistakes. We don't mind paying him 2k in costs.

5. If we don't agree to this what can attorney possibly do to recover his full costs and possibly some fees? What are the consequences for us if we don't have agreement and we don't pay him at all?

6. I believe he has to file a lawsuit and get a judgment against me? or he can directly sell it to collection agencies ? What else he or his law firm can do?
Under your point number 5, you ask, "What are the consequences for us if we don't have agreement and we don't pay him at all?"

You did not have a contract with the attorney?

The attorney can demand costs and fees that he can show he is legitimately owed for the work he did on your behalf.
 

curiousv

Member
Yes attorney can demand costs and fees ....but what if I don't agree with that amount he is asking and not pay him at all?

What are the consequences of not paying him?

I understand that he has to file a lawsuit but can he sell the debt to collection agencies without filing lawsuit?

What else he can do?

Actually we (me and my spouse) are angry that he did not try out case ...and withdrew without much fight
 

quincy

Senior Member
Yes attorney can demand costs and fees ....but what if I don't agree with that amount he is asking and not pay him at all?

What are the consequences of not paying him?

I understand that he has to file a lawsuit but can he sell the debt to collection agencies without filing lawsuit?

What else he can do?

Actually we (me and my spouse) are angry that he did not try out case ...and withdrew without much fight
You do not have a written contract with the attorney for a personal injury case? Was this a contingency agreement?

Following is a link to the Washington State Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct. You can see Rule 1.5 on Fees. http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Resources_Services/Ethics/RPC booklet.ashx
 

curiousv

Member
Why have you ignored the question of a written contract...twice?

Oh I did mean to ignore...something must have went wrong...yes written contract - contingency free agreement ...but there was twist ...he cleverly crafted agreement in which he said 'in event of termination of this contract lawyer has the right to be paid hourly 350$ an hour. I did not read it good ...neither he cared to explain it to me. This means he can withdraw i.e. terminate the contract and charge hourly fees.

I showed this fee agreement to couple of experienced lawyers and they said that part of contract is not enforceable.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Oh I did mean to ignore...something must have went wrong...yes written contract - contingency free agreement ...but there was twist ...he cleverly crafted agreement in which he said 'in event of termination of this contract lawyer has the right to be paid hourly 350$ an hour. I did not read it good ...neither he cared to explain it to me. This means he can withdraw i.e. terminate the contract and charge hourly fees.

I showed this fee agreement to couple of experienced lawyers and they said that part of contract is not enforceable.
Have you thought to have one of these experienced lawyers handle the matter for you?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
This is in response to a new thread the OP made, but was then deleted:


From www.merriam-webster.com: Consortium: the legal right of one spouse to the company, affection, and assistance of and to sexual relations with the other

Since you were legally separated, there is no consortium to lose.
 

latigo

Senior Member
Seems to me that the lawyer omitted the essential word mutual as in "the mutual termination of this agreement.

But as written and if interpreted to allow the lawyer to arbitrarily and without justification to withdraw as your attorney of record the clause should fail as being one of adhesion, unconscionable and for failure of consideration.
 

curiousv

Member
Have you thought to have one of these experienced lawyers handle the matter for you?
Well I am surprised even though you are a senior member you are not answering my main question... and here it is again..

What are the consequences of not paying him?

I understand that he has to file a lawsuit but can he sell the debt to collection agencies without filing lawsuit?

What else he can do?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I don't think it's unreasonable for him to expect to recover his out-of-pocket court costs.
 

curiousv

Member
I don't think it's unreasonable for him to expect to recover his out-of-pocket court costs.
Well again my question is ...what can they do ..can they directly hand over to debt collection?

or they have to sue me first and get a judgment before they can hand it over to debt collection?

Remember I am not arguing that he should recover out of pocket costs but I am arguing that not all cost was reasonable.
He made some mistakes so out of 3k ...I owe him only 2k ...remaining 1k was his mistake ...even though I did warn him.
 
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