Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Attorney sues in small claims court
After fee arbitration reducing attorney fees $2500 my attorney is taking me to small claims for the award in her favor, $550 plus interest. She says no payments were made, I have 2 cancelled checks. Her first invoice to me added in 6 hours of ''research'' at $250/hr to her fees before the arbitration reduction, the second invoice included more charges for letter writing to the arbitrator. I have written her three letters and included legal citations, so now the office bookkeeper has ''written off'' $3500, says she made a mistake and attorney wants the award amount plus about $300 in interest. I sent a third check (payments total $80) and received the small claims summons. Its a three hour drive each way for me to show up at court but it would be worth it if the judge would vacate the arbitration judgement based on her unethical behavior. If you have sent payments doesn't that establish a collection pattern? Doesn't the attorney have to tell the truth on the small claims documents? Thanks.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Attorney sues in small claims court
The statutory interest rate for a judgment is 10%. Interest cannot be added to the principal. The amount of interest would be 10% times the amount of the award for each year. The interest on a $550 judgment would be $55 per year or $4.58 per month.
The attorney fees for work done to prepare for the fee arbitration are not chargeable to you unless, there is a written agreement, which contains a provision for attorney fees to the prevailing party. A reduction of the fee by $2,500 would make you the prevailing party.
Contact the attorney and offer to pay $50 per month until the amount of the arbitration award has been paid, that should be about 6 payments. Even if you have to pay a little extra it may be cheaper than going to small claims court.
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