ex lawyer suing for unpaid dept

[talons]

My ex lawyer intends on suing me for an unpaid debt. I dispute this debt due to being unfairly billed and breach of our fee agreement. Here are the facts; the relevant part of our agreement reads, " Once a trial or mediation date is set, it is required that you pay all sums then owing in your case and that you deposit the attorney's fees that we estimate will be incurred in preparing for and completing the trial or mediation, as well as the court fees or mediation fees likely to be assessed". This did not happen, she had over a month after a mediation date was set to send me a detailed bill for her services, and how much more it was going cost, as was laid out in our agreement. I wasn't billed til a month after the mediation and i terminated her services.this bill had a large unpaid balance. I will also point out that I had paid her a retainer fee up front that was expected to take us all the way through the case. she had exhausted it and went well beyond without my approval or notification or ever sending me a bill.

Isn't this a breach, do i have a defense?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Your argument is going to be that she didn't bill you fast enough?

Or that she billed you too much?

gail

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Your argument is going to be that she didn't bill you fast enough?

LOL!!! At first I thought the same thing although there is an element of that as I'll set forth below. I think her problem is that the agreement states that the attorney must get all the billing together before the mediation to present to the client and set the client's expectations with regard to a final bill. The attorney didn't do that and the client had sticker shock when she saw the final bill and it significantly exceeded the retainer agreement.

If I understood properly, I'd settle with the attorney for the reasonable amount of services rendered with a discount. Did you or should you have known how much it was going to cost? Did you have a verbal discussion? Email? Any correspondence about the costs? If you knew what the cost would be, then I wouldn't want to go in front of a judge and claim that because you didn't pay quickly enough, the judge will not be happy you're wasting everyone's time trying to get off on a "technicality" that you know doesn't change the general amount you knew you should pay.

If there was no discussion with regard to how much it would cost, you may want to discuss this with the attorney one more time. You can tell the attorney that she gave you no reasonable expectation as to the bill and that is not only irresponsible but also a breach of the attorney's own contract. You can concede that you'll pay a reasonable cost for services but, if she persists to take this to court, you'll raise this rather ridiculous practice on the record and you plan to have a hearing in front of a judge and transcribed.

Bottom line - nobody wants to go to court. If you can negotiate a good settlement amount, just do it and you both will be happy. Additionally, you never know when you might need her services again, especially if she's a better lawyer than she is with Quicken.

 

[talons]

The problem is I don't see this as a mere technicality. My position is, had i known my retainer was exhausted, it certainly would have affected my decision on whether or how to proceed further with this case. we had discussed my finances and I had made it clear the retainer was my budget and I had no desire to go beyond it. If she had followed the clause in our agreement we would not be in this position today. I believe that is the purpose and intent of that clause is to prevent this exact situation from occurring. I only continued to proceed because i was under the belief there was still monies to do so. I definitely am not worried about using her services in the future, I would neither use nor recommend her to anybody ever.

 

[talons]

oh lol, I will reply about the argument she didnt bill me fast enough hehe. The fact is this is part of the written agreement she was required to bill me when the mediation date was set, she had ample time to do so and had she done so I would have known how much money was left in the retainer and again I contend that it would have affected my decision on whether to proceed.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Understood and my response doesn't change. The bottom line is that if you knew or should have known that the cost was going to exceed your retainer agreement, then you're going to be liable for an additional amount. If you did not know and had no reason to know, then you should make it clear to the attorney that you refuse to pay for her mistake in not bothering to figure out what to do so you had an informed choice with regard to whether or not you wanted to proceed alone.

How much was the cost of the services for mediation? Would you really have backed out after spending all that money to get to the 5 yard line only to quit there? I don't know what the basis for the attorney's argument is but make sure it conforms with the above. It will probably help you with any settlement or eventual court case.