My question relates to legal practice in the state of: CA
I met with an attorney, discussed my case with him and provided him with a detailed case file. It's a civil fraud and breach of contract case. I have hard evidence, but a good deal of the evidence is circumstantial as well. I told him I was aware that the case has weaknesses, but I was willing to proceed anyway with the goal of reaching a quick settlement. I also mentioned that time was of the essence, since one of the defendants would be traveling soon and I wanted him served before he leaves. He said it would cost less than $5,000 to prepare, file and serve a civil complaint and that he would get a draft to me by the end of the week. I signed the retainer agreement and paid a deposit of $2,500.
Ten days passed without hearing from him. I called him and requested an update. He said he had not worked on the case yet and that he would start soon. He said that he would prepare a case assessment first. I said that I would not require a formal assessment at that time, if it would slow down filing the case and that he could do a written assessment once we see how they respond to the complaint. I did not say nor simply that he need not review the case file.
The following week, he sent me a letter and a draft complaint. He explained that he will not file the case, since too much of the evidence is circumstantial and he doesn't think I would win. I replied with additional information on a possible witness, different causes of action and other mitigating factors which could reduce our risk and strengthen the case. He did not address the suggestions I made and stuck to his original opinion. A few days later, he sent me a bill for $4,500. He said he had spent 23 hours on the case and that he discounted the amount, which was originally over $6,000 based on the time spent.
I feel that he should not have spent the amount of time he claims he did on the case. Obviously, he did not review the case documents in detail to make sure it's a case he would be able to file before preparing the complaint, which is the logical thing to do. It's reasonable to assume that he would do so and if he did, he would only have spent about fours hours on it before concluding that he will not file the case (a few other attorneys had quoted me four hours to do a thorough review and case assessment). In this case, his fee would have only been about $1,200.
I hired him to file the case and to represent me. Since he will not file the case, the draft complaint (which isn't even complete) is useless to me. Finding another attorney to handle the case may be difficult since they may have the same concerns that he did. Even if a new attorney accepted the case, he/she would probably want to prepare a complaint from scratch, rather than using the incomplete draft that this attorney prepared. Obviously I don't feel that his bill of $4,500 is fair, since the excess time he spent resulted mainly from his negligence in not properly reviewing the case file early on. I've already paid him the $2,500 deposit and don't expect to get any of that back. But I do not want to pay him any more.
I'd appreciate opinions on who's right or wrong in this situation and what would be a fair way to work this out. Thanks.
I met with an attorney, discussed my case with him and provided him with a detailed case file. It's a civil fraud and breach of contract case. I have hard evidence, but a good deal of the evidence is circumstantial as well. I told him I was aware that the case has weaknesses, but I was willing to proceed anyway with the goal of reaching a quick settlement. I also mentioned that time was of the essence, since one of the defendants would be traveling soon and I wanted him served before he leaves. He said it would cost less than $5,000 to prepare, file and serve a civil complaint and that he would get a draft to me by the end of the week. I signed the retainer agreement and paid a deposit of $2,500.
Ten days passed without hearing from him. I called him and requested an update. He said he had not worked on the case yet and that he would start soon. He said that he would prepare a case assessment first. I said that I would not require a formal assessment at that time, if it would slow down filing the case and that he could do a written assessment once we see how they respond to the complaint. I did not say nor simply that he need not review the case file.
The following week, he sent me a letter and a draft complaint. He explained that he will not file the case, since too much of the evidence is circumstantial and he doesn't think I would win. I replied with additional information on a possible witness, different causes of action and other mitigating factors which could reduce our risk and strengthen the case. He did not address the suggestions I made and stuck to his original opinion. A few days later, he sent me a bill for $4,500. He said he had spent 23 hours on the case and that he discounted the amount, which was originally over $6,000 based on the time spent.
I feel that he should not have spent the amount of time he claims he did on the case. Obviously, he did not review the case documents in detail to make sure it's a case he would be able to file before preparing the complaint, which is the logical thing to do. It's reasonable to assume that he would do so and if he did, he would only have spent about fours hours on it before concluding that he will not file the case (a few other attorneys had quoted me four hours to do a thorough review and case assessment). In this case, his fee would have only been about $1,200.
I hired him to file the case and to represent me. Since he will not file the case, the draft complaint (which isn't even complete) is useless to me. Finding another attorney to handle the case may be difficult since they may have the same concerns that he did. Even if a new attorney accepted the case, he/she would probably want to prepare a complaint from scratch, rather than using the incomplete draft that this attorney prepared. Obviously I don't feel that his bill of $4,500 is fair, since the excess time he spent resulted mainly from his negligence in not properly reviewing the case file early on. I've already paid him the $2,500 deposit and don't expect to get any of that back. But I do not want to pay him any more.
I'd appreciate opinions on who's right or wrong in this situation and what would be a fair way to work this out. Thanks.
Legal Fees: Possible Fee Dispute with Attorney
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