I recently received a letter from a law firm representing a former tenant. He hired them to sue me for his $200 deposit (I did not refund because he did over $1,800 of damage to the apartment) and additional money of $400+ for the inconvenience of having to move on SuperBowl Sunday (no joke, the letter actually said this). After reading the letter and it's numerous grammar mistakes, the issue rose among my friends that perhaps this is just an intern or something that is a friend of the former tenant trying to scare me. The letter is signed "Esquire". :confused: I looked on the web, but the only definition I could find was that esquire was an old fashioned term for attorney. Is this correct? Is it unusual for it to have been used in this letter?

Thanks,

Yes, it is as you guess. Not really a "term" for an attorney, but a title that
1. Would be used by someone writing an attorney as a form of respect, or
2. A title that an attorney uses for him/herself for whatever reason they choose to.

It is not an indication of any knowledge or schooling, etc. over and above that necessary to practice law.

The word originates in old England where it referred to a member of the gentry but not the nobility. Barristers (those permitted to appear in English courts as advocates) were included in those permitted to use the title.

American lawyers adopted the title as their own but there is no official designation. Some lawyers use it, others don't. Basically its just someone getting fancy and trying to impress.

HI,
I agree with your other answers about the word "esquire".
I also agree with you about the "grammar" mistakes. If this were really a letter from a true "law firm", it wouldn't have mistakes such as this in it. Does the "law firm" letter have a heading? With name, fax numbers, phone number, etc? If so, call them, find out about it.
If the letter doesn't have any heading with the above, then it's not the normal letter from any law firm. Best of luck.

Lawyers are not grammarians. They can draft poorly written letters just like the rest of us.

Do you have documentation proving the damage? If so, I would send a letter with a copy of the documentation back to the person who sent the letter, asking for the additional $1600 (the difference between the $200 deposit and the damage amount). That should shut him up.

The law firm on the letterhead is not listed in the yellow pages. I went to a website and it said it was a local firm located in South Carolina, while the letterhead has a Nashville address. Also, the firm listed all their lawyers on their website and Thomas Sager was not on the list. Neither was he registered with the TN Bar Association. Any other ideas on how to find out if this guy is a fakie?

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Originally Posted by LeeAnnMemphis

The law firm on the letterhead is not listed in the yellow pages. I went to a website and it said it was a local firm located in South Carolina, while the letterhead has a Nashville addres. Also, the firm listed all their lawyers on their website and Thomas Sager was not on the list. Neither was he registered with the TN Bar Association. Any other ideas on how to find out if this guy is a fakie?

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There is a chance that your former tenant wrote this letter himself.

I say just sit on your heels for a bit. If this is a real law suit, then papers will soon come and you can deal with it in small claims court. If factitious, nothing to worry about.

However, if you want, call this law firm and ask to speak to Attorney Sager. If they say who is that, say you received a letter from their law office in his name. Heck, you might even have your former tenant on fraud charges!

I would call the State Bar and turn a copy of the letter over to them. If he has represented hisself, or pretended to be an attorney this is a criminal act.

Again, this well could be ( as my first thought) a prepaid legal company, many are not always in the same state but are suppose to have someone on staff that is licenced in that state.

But if they are not registered by the TN Bar they are not licenced in our state (TN) to practice law here ( some exceptions are those approved for tax law, patient law, workers comp and some other areas that allow specialists to test to be able to present cases in those hearings only

I would contact the firm, ask for the Office Manager and explain that you received a letter on their letterhead from Sager, purporting to be a member of their firm. I would think they would want to take action against him, if he's misrepresenting himself. And they would know exactly what to do. While you can report it to the State Bar Assn, I would let the firm handle as they would be a more interested party.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

I would contact the firm, ask for the Office Manager and explain that you received a letter on their letterhead from Sager, purporting to be a member of their firm. I would think they would want to take action against him, if he's misrepresenting himself. And they would know exactly what to do. While you can report it to the State Bar Assn, I would let the firm handle as they would be a more interested party.

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Before you go getting too excited, consider the most likely scenarios. (1)That "Sager" is a new hire who does not yet have his name on the letterhead, or (2) that Sager is a lawyer from another office (perhaps out of state) of the same firm.

Either way, definitely call them and ask to talk to the lawyer. I would be interested to know what kind of damages are involved with the tenant electing to move on Superbowl Sunday.

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Originally Posted by sideoutshu

Before you go getting too excited, consider the most likely scenarios. (1)That "Sager" is a new hire who does not yet have his name on the letterhead, or (2) that Sager is a lawyer from another office (perhaps out of state) of the same firm.

Either way, definately call them and ask to talk to the lawyer. I would be interested to know what kind of damages are involved with the tenant electing to move on Superbowl Sunday.

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While those scenarios are definite possibilities, I'm not sure how likely they are. Remember that the grammar was allegedly poor. Remember also that the tenant is clearly not the most scrupulous of individuals if he left $1800 in damages, yet has the chutzpah to ask for his deposit back.

But the only way to be sure is to call and ask for him. One thought I just had was whether the letterhead was preprinted on stationary stock. Its not hard to reproduce a letterhead these days using a word processor. Especially if the address was changed.