Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Failure to honor employment contract

A demand letter from an attorney will probably not have any affect if a bankruptcy is filed. However, you may want to hire an attorney to contact the employer, and pursue your claims either outside of the bankruptcy court, or through the bankruptcy court. While you state that the "doctor corporation" may file for bankruptcy protection, you probably do not have any assurances that it will. Further, either way, you may need to file some form of action in order to pursue your claims against the employer.

Re: Failure to honor employment contract

So there is a proposed charge of $2,500 to $5,000 to write 5 to 10 nearly-identical letters based on the same facts? Sounds pretty steep.

The unpaid wages and pension liabilities will be priorities in the bankruptcy, and there is a greater chance they will be paid in full, and perhaps earlier, than its liabilities in general.

Whether demand letters will do any good depends upon so many factors specific to the debtor that it is impossible to say whether it would be cost effective to retain an attorney to write them. In similar situations I have had all kinds of response, ranging from immediate payment in full to a counter-billing to no response at all.

My hunch is that if the corporation let all these high-priority items go unpaid it either doesn't have the money at all or it is being operated on a short-term butt-covering basis -- for example, paying withheld income taxes for which the officers of the corporation would have personal liability.

I (or any attorney) would need more case-specific information to guide you, but I'd lean to not bothering with the letters.