------------------------------------------------------------------------
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the
results, please visit http://www.slashlegal.com/showthread.php?t=85392
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Was this an unethical practice??!?

- Right to worry?!?
- Wrong to worry?!?
- Unsure?!?
- Need more info
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know where else to turn so I have a question that alot of
lawyers may not wish to answer. I had/have a lawyer that represented a
malpractice case, that took 13 years to go to trial, that involved my
daughter. We lost I didn't know if the other side had paid him off to
lose the case when there was no way on God's green earth that we should
have lost due to one fact that the jury wasn't of our peers (which he
said today he knows was due to race) or what but, *-he told me that he
wasn't charging me since we lost and the only thing that I needed to
possibly worry about was paying a certain Dr that makes limbs for my
daughter, and that maybe i should see on my own if i could make payment
arrangements with him but that was at my discretion. -*He was also doing
a different case that just paid out today in the sum of 40k. We went and
he seemed to be a little shakey but I didn't think anything of it.
Anyway, he showed us his fee of 33 1/3% which came out to 13,133.33 as
well as a lien that we had for a dr that we have been having trouble
with finding that could possibly be dead, amounting over 5200, and a
lien for a $2,000 lien with interest on a loan that we took out
against the law suit last year november. Then out of the clear blue sky
he says that he is charging us $10k for out daughters previous case. Now
there was never an understanding that we had to give him monies out of
this law suit for the case that he said if we lost we owed nothing. Now
all of a sudden he pours this amount on our head which left us with a
little over $7,000. I really need to know can he do this. I signed
thinking that I had to but my husband didn't sign the paper allowing
that because that was never in the previous agreement and we still out
of 10k. He never brought it to our attention that is what he was doing
and we never aggreed to do so in the past. Is this legal for him to
do?!?, Or is he doing something that is unethical/illegal and if so
what steps shoulds we take to resolve this matter? How is it that we
win a settlement of 40k and walk away with only 7k and our lawyer walks
away with over 23k!?! Could someone please help me!!!???!!!! *-Was my
trust misplaced?!!?-*


--
Enneone
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enneone's Profile: http://www.slashlegal.com/member.php?userid=134
View this thread: http://www.slashlegal.com/showthread.php?t=85392

Difficult to answer but you need to consult the fee and services agreement with the attorney. Likely, it was a contingency fee plus expenses kind of arrangement. If you cannot find it and get it explained, another option is to file an attorney complaint with the state bar if you cannot resolve things with the atty.