I would like to put XXXX on notice. I met her at a bar. This should have been my first indicator! She was there with former dolphin XXXX at the time. She represented him in a child custody hearing and he got custody of his kids. She seemed like a headhunter. Because of mutual friends, she offered me a discount.
I scheduled an appointment and went to her office the next week. XXX showed up nearly an hour late. She looked like she never went to bed. She stated that she had bad allergies. Over the next few months, every office visit was like this. Later I found out she had a reputation as a heavy drinker. She wanted a $5000 retainer. I borrowed that from my sister (I was living in my mechanic shop office at the time.) She called opposing counsel, XXXX and, started yelling at her. It seemed like a show but would a lawyer really do that? Surely not.
I wrote earlier how pathetic she was. At mediation she thought the nearly $8000 request per month wasn't "too bad." I warn anybody going through mediation to know what they can afford. If in the first hour or two, you cant settle on a number you should walk out!
My mediation took nearly 11 hours at a cost of about $1200 an hour. I knew with in the first hour I was in trouble. After the mediation she said she wanted to say goodbye to opposing counsel. She was in the other room for nearly 1/2 hour. Later I found out that they were friends and that XXXX asked XXXX to come work for her at one time.
After the mediation she invited me out for a drink and told me that i wasn't technically her client anymore. We went back to her house and had a few more drinks. Nothing really happened because I was just in shock. She was ready for anything to happen.
I called her the following Monday and asked if there were any additional costs. She told me that if I fix her corvette, we would call it even. The repairs to the corvette were less than $500. I let her borrow my ford truck while the repairs were being completed. Approximately 4 days later I delivered her corvette back to her house.
As I pulled up to her driveway I noticed a huge dent that went along the right hand side of my vehicle. I asked her what happened and she said that she had no idea and she thought it was there when she borrowed it. I told her that it wasn't. I left her car and took my truck to a body shop for an estimate. It was about $4800. I faxed it over to her. She called me back and told me that there was no way that would cost that much to repair. Then she told me that she had it looked at by a friend and he said it would cost about $1500. Well........if she stated she didn't know how the damage occurred and that she thought it was there when she took delivery of the vehicle, why should you have a friend look at it? It gets better folks. About three days later I get a bill from her for $5000 more for legal fees.
I would love to hear of any more experiences with her or any other attorney. I truly feel I could have represented myself better. I may have had a fool for a client, but that fool is honest and would have been prepared!
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