Re: Lawyer failed to file our suit

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On 1/07/03, Cindy wrote:
> We have a lawyer who fails to return calls and has now
> failed to file our suit. This is the only lawyer we could
> find that seemed to know what the law even was, much less
> what to do with it, in our state. We have consulted with
> too many to count, fired one, and would fire this one if we
> had any altertative. The atty's have all said we had a
> strong and well documented case but for money reasons they
> weren't interested. Some even told us we couldn't get back
> legal fees, etc, under our state's laws. We now know that
> was false information. The lawyers we've hired have wasted
> the last year entirely...everything we accomplished in our
> case we did before hiring the first lawyer. Now this
> second one has failed to get our suit filed, and won't
> reply to us.

If the statute of limitations has past you may initiate a
legal malpractice claim against the attorney, which is likely
to be resolved via his/her malpractice insurance. In
addition, you may want to send a letter asking for a prompt
update as to the status of your case (via facsimile and U.S.
mail ONLY). You need a "paper trail" to prove his/her non
compliance. They are ethically obligated to respond, and
contractually obligated to perform according to the terms of
your written agreement.

Give then a bottom line date to update you, or file a
complaint with the state bar and include a copy of your
letter and retainer agreement. Never make phone calls as
they can easily say that you did not call, or that the call
was for some other reason (e.g., to give additional
information, inform them of changes, etc.)

Re: Lawyer failed to file our suit, 4/04/03, by steve.

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