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So gf decided to go with this lawyer for her injury claim from an auto accident that I thought was a bad choice from the very start. Turns out I was right. It's now been almost a year since she signed the contract with him and the claim still hasn't been settled. He never was that great with communicating and now the past two months he has refused to answer his phone nor return multiple emails and voicemails. He is not local so we can't go into his office.
At this point I told her to email or send a certified letter saying that the contract is terminated due to nonperformance and lack of communication but she is afraid that he'll come back for fees for whatever work he did do. Do we have a reason for concern? His clause in the contract state that if the client fails at anytime to honor the contract then he has the right to bill for any work done to that point. But it's he and not us that is dragging and stalling on the progress. I just don't want him coming back and saying she owes him and we have to find another lawyer to fight it.
Some accident claims can take several years to come to a conclusion. It took our attorney 3 years to finally collect and settle a claim against an un-insured motorist.
Whatever state you live in and whatever state the lawyer practices in has some kind of attorney disciplinary office. Note--this is not the same as the bar association. One of the most, if not the most common reasons for client grievances is failure to communicate. Find out how to file an ethics complaint against this attorney; they may have a process to resolve it short of a full ethics charge, but it does her no good to wait without hearing anything.
So gf decided to go with this lawyer for her injury claim from an auto accident that I thought was a bad choice from the very start. Turns out I was right. It's now been almost a year since she signed the contract with him and the claim still hasn't been settled. He never was that great with communicating and now the past two months he has refused to answer his phone nor return multiple emails and voicemails. He is not local so we can't go into his office.
At this point I told her to email or send a certified letter saying that the contract is terminated due to nonperformance and lack of communication but she is afraid that he'll come back for fees for whatever work he did do. Do we have a reason for concern? His clause in the contract state that if the client fails at anytime to honor the contract then he has the right to bill for any work done to that point. But it's he and not us that is dragging and stalling on the progress. I just don't want him coming back and saying she owes him and we have to find another lawyer to fight it.
I am a lawyer and I will give you this advice.
If this guy was really so bad he never returned a call in two months, you are right to terminate him. I would go get another attorney and not worry about him.
The real question when it comes to attorney fees is has he done any work on the case? Has he sent a letter of representation to the insurance company? Has he obtained medical records and bills? Has he obtained a police report of the accident? Has it gone further than this and has he done something like file suit? If he can document the fact he has done actual work on the case, regardless of his failure to promptly communicate, he can claim entitlement to some sort of fee. Where no settlement offer has been made, the fee would be an hourly rate X a reasonable number of hours it took to do the work in question. When a settlement offer is made to attorney, the fee is generally one third of the highest amount offered in settlement at the time he is terminated. If he has done little to nothing on the case, he will not be able to claim a fee.
If he claims an entitlement to fees he does not have to be paid right away. He must wait until the conclusion of the case. You can get a second attorney to take the case, subject to his lien for fees. Often, the second attorney can persuade the first attorney to drop or limit such a claim.
I just don't want him coming back and saying she owes him and we have to find another lawyer to fight it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by markg91359
If he claims an entitlement to fees he does not have to be paid right away. He must wait until the conclusion of the case. You can get a second attorney to take the case, subject to his lien for fees. Often, the second attorney can persuade the first attorney to drop or limit such a claim.
The possibility that the Op may need to find another attorney brings up a scenario that could apply to anyone in an accident claim.
Doesn't the injured person (when the other driver's insurance company has accepted full liability) have to pay both lawyers their fee of 1/3 if the relationship with the first one is terminated.
The possibility that the Op may need to find another attorney brings up a scenario that could apply to anyone in an accident claim.
Doesn't the injured person (when the other driver's insurance company has accepted full liability) have to pay both lawyers their fee of 1/3 if the relationship with the first one is terminated.
Where I live the answer is "no". The State Bar Association indicates that fee is so high it would be unethical. What is comprehended is that all lawyers involved would have to split a 33.3% fee based on the proportion of total work they performed on the case. In the real world, the lawyers generally sit down and apportion these fees on their own. We don't like to waste time fighting over a fee.
I do wonder though about a claimant who exhibits totally unreasonable behavior. I'm not talking about someone who changes lawyers one time. There are people who try to change lawyers several times because they don't like what they are hearing. In such a case, perhaps a total fee of more than 33.3% might be justifiable.
If this guy was really so bad he never returned a call in two months, you are right to terminate him. I would go get another attorney and not worry about him.
The real question when it comes to attorney fees is has he done any work on the case? Has he sent a letter of representation to the insurance company? Has he obtained medical records and bills? Has he obtained a police report of the accident? Has it gone further than this and has he done something like file suit? If he can document the fact he has done actual work on the case, regardless of his failure to promptly communicate, he can claim entitlement to some sort of fee. Where no settlement offer has been made, the fee would be an hourly rate X a reasonable number of hours it took to do the work in question. When a settlement offer is made to attorney, the fee is generally one third of the highest amount offered in settlement at the time he is terminated. If he has done little to nothing on the case, he will not be able to claim a fee.
If he claims an entitlement to fees he does not have to be paid right away. He must wait until the conclusion of the case. You can get a second attorney to take the case, subject to his lien for fees. Often, the second attorney can persuade the first attorney to drop or limit such a claim.
Am also a lawyer, good post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmccullough
Whatever state you live in and whatever state the lawyer practices in has some kind of attorney disciplinary office. Note--this is not the same as the bar association. One of the most, if not the most common reasons for client grievances is failure to communicate. Find out how to file an ethics complaint against this attorney; they may have a process to resolve it short of a full ethics charge, but it does her no good to wait without hearing anything.
I don't think the conduct arises to the level of being punished just yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtvaj125
So gf decided to go with this lawyer for her injury claim from an auto accident that I thought was a bad choice from the very start. Turns out I was right. It's now been almost a year since she signed the contract with him and the claim still hasn't been settled. He never was that great with communicating and now the past two months he has refused to answer his phone nor return multiple emails and voicemails. He is not local so we can't go into his office.
At this point I told her to email or send a certified letter saying that the contract is terminated due to nonperformance and lack of communication but she is afraid that he'll come back for fees for whatever work he did do. Do we have a reason for concern? His clause in the contract state that if the client fails at anytime to honor the contract then he has the right to bill for any work done to that point. But it's he and not us that is dragging and stalling on the progress. I just don't want him coming back and saying she owes him and we have to find another lawyer to fight it.
Claims take years, if the lawyer has a clause that he gets to claim time worked in the event you breach the contract it likely means he's been billing time at some hourly rate and not sending you invoices. Who knows how much work has been actually put into this.
But if you start trouble by bringing in another lawyer to fight with your first one you have a recipe for a multi year suit of various people suing various people.
You can't terminate a contract for lack of communication, it's a breach on your part making you liable, he hasn't nonperformed the contract, 1 year is not unreasonable for a claim at all. Be patient.
If you feel like he's dodging you, do your communicating via email to an email he responds to. That would demonstrate he isn't keeping up his end of the bargain, and it's written.
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