Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  04/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired mr************ to protect my rights for my grandchildren I had been taking care of for 4 years off of a recomdation from another attorney that works together with him I had hired ********** for my son in a custody hearing then we went to court for my son's emergency hearing and mr ***** did nothing in the court room that day for me and sent me a bill for 570 for that day which I did tell him that same day I would not need him to help me any longer but continue to charge me for things after ward I feel like I got ripped off by me hiring a lawyer that my sons attorney said to hire to protect my rights but only filed a Motion to intervene for me I payed both attorneys 2500 for me and my son I have another bill I have to send you thank you so much for any help I can get ************

  Business response

  04/26/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2022/04/18) */ Ms. ******** recounting of events is not accurate, however as an attorney I am prohibited from providing details of my communications with her. What I can say is that we filed a motion to intervene for custody on her behalf, the initial hearing was for emergency custody involving her son and (former) daughter in law, and because she had not officially (via court order) been permitted to intervene I could not interject in the hearing and could only observe. I worked closely with the son's attorney in order to coordinate our responses in the case. As a matter of due diligence, it was absolutely necessary for me to attend the approximately 2-hr hearing for her son's emergency custody motion. While clients always set the goals, the manner in which I prepare for trial, the strategy I employ, and the due diligence that I must do in order to competently represent clients is not something that I can allow clients to dictate. It is my ethical responsibility as an attorney and would be malpractice for me not to fully investigate allegations in a case--including attending the initial hearings on custody. Ms. ****** decided not to pursue her custody case any further after the hearing. We offered her the ** State Bar Attorney Fee Dispute resolution program if she contested the fees for her case and asked her to let us know what, if anything, she believed was incorrectly charged on her case. She did not respond to my office. She decided instead to complain to the BBB it appears. I did not see any other email from the BBB, so I don't know when you initially tried to contact me.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩