I have asked questions before, and have tried to find an attorney,but have found when you look for one to help you either.

• A. Have to have alot of money to hire them
  B. They want you to go the bankruptcy route
  C. They are in the credit card side of it to defend the creditors.

If anything could go wrong this has. We found an finally attorney and paid them, they didn't file on our case ( we put in a complaint at the state bar) after taking our $1000. Then the Plaintiff -Chase Bank (yeah I know) got a default against us.

We filed a motion for discovery and the court denied it , in writing,but not until 60 days after we filed it, and 45 days after the default judgment. We were never notified of the default when it happened.

Now here is the tricky part. Once the attorney that we hired got notified of our complaint(state bar), they filed a motion to dismiss, before the default, on the very day our "attorney"(who we could not get a hold of for eight months) filed the "judge" ruled the default judgment.

Second part of tricky the "judge" was a different judge than had originally been listed on the docket, and we weren't notified either. We never got to represent anything or go to court.

Then on Wednesday last week we get a court order that the opposing attorney is asking for a change of attorneys in the case, and that the "attorney " that was representing no longer works for the company.
However, the attorney that they want to take over, is the one that has been listed on the dockets all along. The only thing is the signature doesn't match. The same name is on every document , but obviously the name was signed by two separate people.
Now remember the default judgment was entered Aug 9 and we were never notified, and then there is an attorney change on the fifth of September. Also on the document is a note that all information has been now sent to Chase Bank
What is going on here?
Have we been denied our rights? We are talking about a 18k debt that was written off in 2003 by Chase.
The attorney said (theirs ) that they would show the original contract, but included photo copies of a generic bank agreement with Chase handwritten at the top.
This is all after the judgment. We still haven't been notified.
We never signed with Chase, they bought out First Usa Visa and our account was opened with them.
The attorney states that it was opened with Chase in 97 , we didn't open with chase, it was bank one --First Usa Bank. And that it was written off on jan 1 2005. It was written off Aug of 2003.
We had sent them that long questionnaire about how they got the account etc and they refused to answer
We are so confused, which hoop do we jump into , besides the fire filled one?
dustyaz

Hello dusty:

You need a new attorney. I don't know how it got as bad as it did (yes I do - see below), but it did, and it needs to be fixed. If I got from your post that you were capable of doing it yourself, I'd be more than happy to tell you how. But, at this point, this isn't something you can do yourself.

If you hire a new lawyer, you need to manage him. You didn't do that before. Yes, yes, I heard you say that he didn't return phone calls for months at a time. However, IF you managed him correctly, you would have been sitting in his doorway after three phone calls were ignored.

excon

Hi ,
Thanks for being so quick. Having never had to have an attorney before, I am not sure what to ask.
Do I hire one for the judgment, is it too late?
Do I hire one for legal malpractice, or breach of contract?
I do not want to claim bankruptcy.
How did it happen, ignorance, stupidity, and procrastination.
Attorney said _taken care of- then didn't answer calls , even the state bar lost my files.
Running in ever widening circles, how much should I expect to pay?
To top it off, the business I worked for for the last ten years was shut down overnight with no notice, no vacation or back pay . Sorry out of luck . So I am jobless, but looking.
dustyaz

Hello again, dusty:

Malpractice comes later. First win your suit. Just tell your lawyer your story. Ask him if he returns his phone calls. See if you like him. Interview several.

Look, dusty, I don't know how to tell you how to manage the people you hire. You should learn how pretty quickly, though!!

excon

If I can't afford a lawyer(remember I am in debt up to my--with no job and have forked out just about my last penny to lawyer #!)
What do I do at this point. I have spent hours reading my states protocol, but it seems like I might be a day late and a dollar short. Now that I am paying attention(duh) I am going crazy.
I guess I just expected when you pay someone they do their job.
So if you know what steps I may take, please advise. I have each step of the documents they filed (now) because I downloaded them off the internet.
Also attorney #1 has my original stuff, all of it, now that I have filed against this person, how do I get my documents back and stop this person from filing more stuff on our case further messing us up?
Too many questions, but I feel like I need to learn yesterday.
Thanks so much ,
dustyaz

Hello again, dusty:

You DID need to learn it yesterday. You didn't. Learning it TODAY is a waste of time. You lost. Get over it. Without legal help, you're not going to change it.

Things aren't so bad, though. Big debts are fine for two kinds of people, and they're NOT good for everybody else. They're fine for rich people because they can pay them off. They're find for poor people too, because they have nothing to take. ALL the other people have jobs and bank accounts, and have something to lose.

You're one of the lucky poor ones. If you're broke and have no job, then tell the collection agent to go stick it. He can't get blood from a turnip. Why are you so worried?? Relax - have a beer - watch the game.

excon