What can I do in this case?

[mzaslavsky]

MA
Hello,

Approximately 16 months ago I hired an attorney to resolve my problem with condominium and paid him his flat fee upfront. He started looking at our case and was very positive regarding the potential results of my case. But then (after 3-4 months) he almost disappeared! He hardy replies to my e-mails, almost never picks up his phone. My voicemails are also typically left unanswered. When I do get in touch with him, he always promises to send me a draft of demand letter (we are still at this stage, after 16 months!) by weekend, but never does. I think there is an obvious case of lawyer malpractice here. I'm wondering what can I do in this case. Could you, please, advise me on how to either get my money back (at least partially) or force him to continue working on my case in a significantly faster manner. I really got lost here and have no ideas what to do in this case

 

[las365]

You can send a letter to the attorney (by certified mail, return receipt requested and regular mail) telling him you are terminating his services and that you want your file and, since the work has not been performed, a refund of your flat fee. Say that if he believes he is entitled to some payment to provide you with an itemized invoice for his services.

Get another attorney. When your dispute regarding the condo is resolved, if it turns out that you were damaged because atty 1 neglected your case, you can look into a filing a grievance with the state Bar and/or claim for legal malpractice.

 

[mzaslavsky]

You can send a letter to the attorney (by certified mail, return receipt requested and regular mail) telling him you are terminating his services and that you want your file and, since the work has not been performed, a refund of your flat fee. Say that if he believes he is entitled to some payment to provide you with an itemized invoice for his services.

Get another attorney. When your dispute regarding the condo is resolved, if it turns out that you were damaged because atty 1 neglected your case, you can look into a filing a grievance with the state Bar and/or claim for legal malpractice.

Thanks for your answer. Is there anything I can do if attorney refuses to reply to that mail? Is there any power of such kind of mail compared to regular e-mail/phone calls/voicemails? Also, my attorney visited my apartment couple of times - that's what I know. But I don't know exactly what he did besides that. Can he claim what he also did something what has no practical impact, but what took his time. In principle, following this way, he may easily add a lot of things which costs (by his hourly rate) the whole fee I paid him, right? If there anything what prevents him from billing me all such irrelevant things?

 

[garrula lingua]

You can state in your letter, that atty has ten days to deliver your file ( if one exists) and a full refund, or you will contact the State Bar and request their assistance in resolving your problem.
This attorney should be reported to the Bar ... Did you check on the State Bar website to make sure he's really an attorney ?
Most attorneys will pay up when faced with a report to the Bar ( the Bar can issue sanctions from censure, probation, suspension to disbarment; they can also order reimbursement to victims of negligent/unethical lawyers).
Good luck.

 

[las365]

Using certified mail, return receipt requested, gives you proof via a signature that the mail was received at the address to which it was addressed. Sending the letter by regular mail as well provides you with a way of having some evidence that the letter was delivered if you get the CMRRR letter back unclaimed but the one mailed by regular mail is not returned. The law is tradition-bound and CMRRR is still generally the preferred way of proving delivery of mail.

As for your other questions about he could do or how to respond to hypothetical situations, the best approach is to start by taking the action you choose and then deal with what actually happens. It doesn't help you to worry about or plan for what may never happen.

If the lawyer charged you a flat fee for a specific service and didn't complete the service, he will be hard pressed to explain why he thinks he is not obligated to return the fee, or at least most of it. Do you have a written, signed fee agreement?

 

[mzaslavsky]

Using certified mail, return receipt requested, gives you proof via a signature that the mail was received at the address to which it was addressed. Sending the letter by regular mail as well provides you with a way of having some evidence that the letter was delivered if you get the CMRRR letter back unclaimed but the one mailed by regular mail is not returned. The law is tradition-bound and CMRRR is still generally the preferred way of proving delivery of mail.

As for your other questions about he could do or how to respond to hypothetical situations, the best approach is to start by taking the action you choose and then deal with what actually happens. It doesn't help you to worry about or plan for what may never happen.

If the lawyer charged you a flat fee for a specific service and didn't complete the service, he will be hard pressed to explain why he thinks he is not obligated to return the fee, or at least most of it. Do you have a written, signed fee agreement?

Yes, I do have a signed fee agreement. The term "flat fee" is used there, not retainer. However, it looks like it doesn't say that the fee is non-refundable. The only concern is that there is no timeframe written in the agreement.

 

[las365]

Absent a specific timetable, the work should be done in a reasonable period of time. He was to do what, write a demand letter for you? If he had the information he needed to do it, it is not reasonable to take sixteen months to write a demand letter.