More details to this question:
We, my fiancé and I entered a verbal agreement with an attorney to handle a Claim for us. The contract was fees exchanged for yoga classes. My fiancé owns yoga studio. We also agreed with attorney to receive monthly billing to know what fees we have accrued, the attorney never provided with monthly fees, Always telling us he would get around to it. We asked the attorney if we could rely on him from settlement or if this goes to court if he wold see it through and represent us to the case was completed. The attorney said yes. Both my fiancé and I were present when this was discussed and there was 1 attorney. The attorney left us mid case, and never sent monthly updates. Neither party stated in the verbal agreement we could discontinue the partnership. The attorney left us in Nov. 2012 and sent us a bill over $4,000 with no dates of service just in April 2013, almost 9 months after case started. Lawyer claims he has voicemail from me stating charge me instead of yoga studio.
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Bankruptcy Attorney serving Bratenahl, OH
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O’Rourke & Associates Co., LPA
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As they say, verbal agreements aren't worth the paper they are written on. You don't say whether you have another lawyer yet. If you do, ignore what I am telling you here and ask your lawyer.
You are entitled to a detailed list of charges. These don't necessarily have to be elaborate and list everything that was done for any particular charge, but it should list the date of the service, at minimum a brief description, even if it is only "telephone call with client" or "deposition." Personally, I use detailed descriptions, but that's me.
You say that he has a voice mail. Well, might he? Did you have that conversation? If you didn't, don't worry about it, if you did, what did you say? Did he partake in any of the yoga classes? If he did, you will want to know if the charges that he has billed you for include the times when he was taking classes.
Has the lawsuit already been filed? If so, it is somewhat unusual that the judge just let him out without some reason or your agreement. To get out, he would have had to file a motion. What did he say in his motion?
You don;'t say what city you live in or near. All of the larger metropolitan areas in Ohio have bar associations. If you can't get this worked out with the lawyer, call the local bar association and tell them your story. There are usually fee dispute procedures set up at the bar.
Answered on Apr 05th, 2013 at 3:40 PM