Excessive Retainer Fee

[karden]

California:

We were sued by an independent contractor claiming he was hurt on one of our jobs (he wasn't). We retained an attorney and paid him $8000.00. There was a couple of preliminary court hearings and 6 months after the lawsuit began, the plaintiff was killed in a single car accident due to driving drunk. The case is now dismissed for lack of plaintiff representation.

The attorney has never given us an accounting of expenses and we feel the retainer fee is now excessive under the circumstances.

Is there anything we can do to get back the unused portion of our retainer?

Thank you.

 

[Hot Topic]

The fee apparently was acceptable until the plaintiff was killed, then it suddenly became excessive.

You could have asked him months ago for an accounting of what you were being billed for, which includes time spent on telephone calls as well as the paperwork required for court and the appearances therein.

You can contact the State Bar and inquire about fees, apparently something you should have researched before you hired your attorney.

 

[latigo]

I adamantly disagree with the first response.

To suggest that the client and the attorney occupy a level playing field when it comes to the retainer is being unrealistic indeed!

Other than a contingency fee arrangement, the attorney is obligated to account for his or her time as devoted to the case. Plus most state ethical standards require that the client is informed of the lawyer’s fee schedule going in.

I would feel exactly as you do. He didn’t demand $8K up front knowing that the plaintiff would be killed before the case barely got off the ground.

Make a written demand for the accounting. If you do not get satisfaction quickly, like within a week or so, then request arbitration through you state bar association.

And I tell you something else. This attorney better damn well be able to document to the ethics committee that the $8K went directly into his trust account. Because if it didn’t, he is going to get sanctioned to no end!

In fact in your demand letter for the accounting, make sure that you ask him point blank for a copy of his trust account deposit record showing the deposit of your check for the retainer.

 

[justalayman]

The fee apparently was acceptable until the plaintiff was killed, then it suddenly became excessive.

You could have asked him months ago for an accounting of what you were being billed for, which includes time spent on telephone calls as well as the paperwork required for court and the appearances therein.

You can contact the State Bar and inquire about fees, apparently something you should have researched before you hired your attorney.

I think you misunderstood what the OP was asking. I would suggest they did not have a problem with the $8k retainer originally but due to the fact the case has been dropped and due to the amount of work performed, OP believes the $8k may not have been earned and was seeking direction as to how to request an accounting and refund of the unearned portion of the retainer.

I would suggest OP merely worded their statement, claiming the retainer is excessive, poorly.

 

[Hot Topic]

The attorney was obliged to give the OP a regular accounting of the money being spent for telephone calls, time spent on research and expert witnesses, time spent in court, etc., during the months before the contractor was killed. If the OP had moved earlier, he would have been in a better position to say, "Look. Your records show X dollars were spent. The defendant died X number of days ago. How do you justify the difference of what actually was spent on the case and the retainer you charged us?"

The OP can contact the State Bar with a complaint about the retainer.

 

[justalayman]

"

The OP can contact the State Bar with a complaint about the retainer.

there is nothing to suggest the OP has even addressed this with the attorney. That would be where they should start.

 

[Hot Topic]

I've already posted that if the OP was concerned about where his money was going, he should have contacted the attorney months ago.

He can still contact the State Bar, explain the situation and get a response on the fee.