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starsbooty · Dec 14, 2006, 10:58 AM

Okay, I got into a car accident a little while ago and had a lawyer who told me I could fire him at any time, now he is coming at me saying I owe him 1,100 dollars. I fired him because this happened in march and in oct I still had not heard back from him, I left message after message. When I told him he was fired he hung up in my face and now saying I owe him... what exactly can I do to protect myself? And do I have to pay him?

Fr_Chuck · Dec 14, 2006, 11:14 AM

Yes, you can fire an attorney at any time, but you will owe them for the billiable hours they have worked.

I will assume he was working on a percentage before. And this was only a little more than 6 months, while he should have been getting back to you, many of these cases can take a few years if the other side is not willing to merely pay a settlement

mr.yet · Dec 14, 2006, 11:27 AM

Ask him for a itemize statement of charges, if you don't agree with some or all dispute his bill.

starsbooty · Dec 14, 2006, 12:48 PM

What is an itemized statement of charges? (a list of all the things he did)?and to dispute his bill I would have to go to court?

J_9 · Dec 14, 2006, 12:56 PM

I am assuming that this lawyer was not working on a contingency fee basis. That means that he only collects money if you win your case, if you lose then he gets nothing.

That said: an itemized bill would have to include his retainer, if you did not pay one, every phone call that he made on the behalf of you and your case, as well as every letter that was written. It will be a list of every minute that he spent working on your case. Attorneys usually bill for every minute while working on a case, each firm has their own time allotments for which they bill. One that I worked for billed for everything over 10 minutes.

About going to court if you dispute the bill, I am not entirely sure.

ScottGem · Dec 14, 2006, 01:03 PM

What else would an itemized statement of charges be. Make sure he tells not just how many billable hours he worked, but what he did during those hours.

mr.yet · Dec 14, 2006, 01:23 PM

Yo would dispute the charges with the attorney, the itemized bill would be for you to verify what he did or didn't do.

J_9 · Dec 14, 2006, 01:33 PM

An itemized statement can also include work done by a paralegal or secretary.

It can also include court fees cuch as filing fees, etc. as well as discovery costs, which would include, but are not limited to copies of any documents that needed to be subpoenaed (along with some subpoena fees sometimes). An attorney can even bill the client for every copy of a letter that is sent out to multiple parties, postage, etc. As well as travel time, hotel fees if necessary to travel out of town. The list can be endless and varies according to the law firm as well as the individual case.

Typically an attorney fronts all the money and then bills the client for reimbursement.

The info here is a little vague, so it is really hard for me to answer this one.

J_9 · Dec 14, 2006, 01:47 PM

No one had an attitude here starsbooty, we are trying to help you figure out if you are being taken or if the bill is legitimate.

If you can give more info, we can help you more.

Was the attorney on a contingent fee or was he on retainer? Etc.

starsbooty · Dec 14, 2006, 01:50 PM

Well he didn't send me any paper work until I fired him, the paper work was all copies from the dr. I already have. Also there was papers from the insurance co. dated after I fired him. He is a real a hole. Every time I try to call him now to ask him about this he says we have nothing further to discuss and hangs up in my face. I am going to call again an request the itemized statement of charges, do you think there is anything else I may need to ask for, seeing that he sent me everything I already had I'm not sure what to do.

I didn't pay him first, I don't know what retainer and contiguent means, this was my first time ever dealing with a lawyer, sorry I'm a little frustrated with this whole situation.

N I was talking to scottgem because he said What else would an itemized statement of charges be. I don't know what none of these legal terms and other stuff means.

ScottGem · Dec 14, 2006, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by starsbooty

n i was talking to scottgem because he said What else would an itemized statement of charges be. i dont know what none of these legal terms and other stuff means.

Excuse me but itemized statement of charges is NOT a legal term.
Charges: the price demanded for something
Statement: a summary of activity in a financial account over a particular period
Itemize: to set down in detail or by particulars

These are all pretty plain english words and the phrase should not have confused you. You seemed to have no trouble guessing what it meant.

J_9 · Dec 14, 2006, 02:17 PM

Okay, here is how it goes

Contingent - you give him no money up front and if you win your case he gets a portion of what you win. If you lose he gets no money

Retainer - You pay him up front to do work for you.

Now, is this medical malpractice? I am guessing it is since you mention records from a doctor.

Here is how that goes. Yes, you have the records, however, if the case were to go to court the records have to be obtained in a specific manner, hence a subpoena. Then the subpoena goes to the doctor's office, or hospital, or wherever. The doctor then charges your attorney for every single piece of paper copied. Without this subpoena the records possibly may not be introduced in court, and you would not have a case.

Then he can also charge for each phone call or letter, which should be listed as correspondence on his itemized statement. (A bill with every item that he is charging you for is listed seperatley).

If the attorney filed a Complaint in court (that is the first legal document filed to let the court and the defendant (doctor) know that there is legal action, then there is a filing fee which is different with every state.

Now then, you "fired" your attorney prior to any court decision (the court telling you whether you won your case or lost it) the attorney has the right to be reimbursed for what he paid out since he was not able to go to court and fight the case. If you and he had won the case then he would have taken a portion of the money that the court would have awarded you, but he was not given that chance, so he is within his legal rights to send a bill to you.

starsbooty · Dec 14, 2006, 03:07 PM

Well, he sent papers saying my case is worth $9,000. That was the offer made to the insurance co. they settled with the amount I offered of 3,000 because I fired the lawyer and talked to the insurance co myself. Now he says I owe him $1,100 but that was when my case was 9,000 so do I still owe him that much if my settlement is less? And also there is no reason for you to respond to my comments scottgem if your not trying to help and all your doing is insulting me. I am not trying to be rude! Thank you.

J_9 · Dec 14, 2006, 03:22 PM

I am sorry to say, but yes you still owe him. From what I am reading, if you did not fire him you would have won $9,000, but you did fire him and only got $3,000. That, sorry about this, was your mistake.

You may have settled too early. This could have gone on and you could have gotten much more (I don't know what your case was, so this is just speculation on my part).

Apparently he spent $1,100 on your case prior to you firing him, now he is seeking reimbursement. So, yes you owe him.

ScottGem · Dec 14, 2006, 05:09 PM

The thing is I AM trying to help you. I'm trying to show you that if you try reasoning things out instead of being intimidated by what you mistakenly believe is jargon you may not have made the mistakes you have made.

Bottom line I think the atty was doing his job except for communicating with you. If you had let him do his work he might have gotten the $9K kept $3K and you would have gotten $6K. Now you got $3K and own him $1100.

Fr_Chuck · Dec 14, 2006, 07:52 PM

Yes the peope here are trying to help, and I am sorry you don't know the terms, most of them are really just very basic terms you would pick up just listening to cops shows on TV, so most of us expect most people to know them. I am sorry but if you don't understand some words, please always just ask.

But what is happening is that he most likely believed that in a year or so, and these cases take time, I had one case that took almost 8 years to reach a settlement, which happened the morning before the trial was to start.

So the attorney from prior cases felt he could get 9000, or close to that from a counter offer.

So when they offered you 3000 they were cheating you basically and glad to settle with you fast.

But that is too late to worry about know, since you settled. Part of why he was asking for more money was his fee, which I will guess was based on a percentage of what the settlement should be. ( normally 25 to 33 percent of what is collected would go to the attorney)

So he was most likely looking at 3000 to 2000 for his profit as the case finally got settled. And the people you are sueing drag it out, to make you, the person sueing, get worried, need the money and be willing to settle for less.

Your attorney did a bad job not explaining this to you, that most likely there would be offers and counter offers before you finally settled.
A old rule is never, never accept their first offer, I remember the one that took 8 years, they had at least 3 checks already printed in their suit case, the make the first offer, then a counter and finally we settled on the 3rd amount, and they had that check also already printed in the brief case.
I have often wondered if they had a fourth check in there for more.

So you can get a itemised bill ( exact bill of everything he has done) and if you don't agree most State Bar Associations ( the people who license the lawyers) have a mediation group that hears disputes and make settlements. But most likely from what you have said, yes you will owe him money, will it be exactly 1100?? I don't know but you will owe him.