Legal Question in Business Law in California

To amend or not

I have had a feud with a finance company and credit reporting agencies for several years. The finance company has reported to the credit reporting company that they ''wrote-off'' over $12,000.00 on a loan. The reported figures claim that the company wrote off this sum three months after it received the payment from tne insurance company. After years of hassling with the companies, I hired a lawyer to clear up this stupidity by suing or threatening to sue. The lawyer filed a complaint in Superior court in California and then apparently did nothing else - i.e. he never served process on the three companies named in the suit. I fired this attorney because of a bogus invoice that he sent me and general incompetence. I had Substitution of Attorney forms filed and served on him and the defendants. Now I have a court date of April 3, 2006 to stand in pro per and my question is: should I send a letter to my judge complaining about this attorney's conduct which has damaged my case?

I am intending to file an amendment to my complaint and serve it on the three companies involved and add a fourth - the collection agency that I paid off the remaining balance to.


Asked on 3/03/06, 6:24 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Philip Iadevaia Law Offices of Philip A. Iadevaia

Re: To amend or not

Did you ever get a copy of the complaint that was filed?

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Answered on 3/03/06, 7:10 pm
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: To amend or not

First, let me say that handling a case in pro. per. against often-sued, battle-wise defendants such as lenders, credit bureaus, insurance companies and the like is a very, very tall order and your chances of prevailing are pretty slim -- not because your case lacks merit, but because they will outmaneuver you at every turn.

Having said that, I congratulate you on your willingness to stand up to these tyrants.

A few pointers:

1. I wouldn't write to the judge about attorney misconduct. The better course is to decide whether the problem is primarily malpractice or an ethical violation. Maybe it's both.

2. Malpractice is possibly ground for a civil action for damages. However, your damages are probably not great enought to warrant a risky and expensive malpractice action.

3. Misconduct, or violation of professional ethics, is probably best addressed by a complaint to the State Bar; try www.calsb.org and look for leads on how to make an ethics complaint. The State Bar will take your allegations seriously and make an appropriate investigation.

4. Back to your case. What is the nature of the 4/3 hearing? Probably a case management conference. You need to file a case management statement 15 days prior, using Judicial Council Form CM-110 which is fillable on line at the California Courts Web site. Be sure to serve copies on all parties before filing.

5. A first step for you is to re-read all the papers on the Court file for your case. Some deadlines may have been missed. Also, you'll be able to see if you're satisfied with the Complaint.

6. If you're either not satisfied with the Complaint, or some deadline has been missed, you may want to dismiss the Complaint "without prejudice" (after you've subbed in as self-represented) and re-file. A Request for Dismissal is also a Judicial Council form and can be obtained on line at www.courts.ca.gov or from the Court clerk's office.

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Answered on 3/04/06, 12:50 pm


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