Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Failure to Represent
I hired an attorney to represent me in evicting a tenant from a rental. We ended up going to court because she wouldn't leave. The judge ''suggested'' we work this out. So we agreed to do a Stipulation for Settlement of Case. My attorney allowed her attorney to write the stipulation. I told him I did not like this, as I figured I would get the short end of the deal. He assured me he would go over it and make sure it was to my favor. As I suspected, I ended up with an unfavorable judgement due to the wording in the stipulation and was not awarded costs for the eviction, or legal fees. I feel the attorney I hired did not do his job, and I don't think I should have to pay him, and plan on talking to him about this, but I would appreciate a second opinion first.

Asked on 5/20/07, 7:47 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

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Re: Failure to Represent

You seem to be complaining that you didn't get everything you wanted as part of the settlement. But by their very nature, settlements are compromises. The parties almost never get everything they want, but neither do their adversaries. The idea that your attorney forfeited his fee by advising you to settle for something less than 100% victory borders on the absurd.

Your attorney should have explained the terms of the settlement to you before you signed it. If he failed to do this then you have a valid complaint about his services. But if he did explain them to you and you either weren't paying attention or didn't understand but failed to ask for further clarification, then the fault is yours and not his.

Answered on 5/20/07, 8:12 pm

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George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

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Re: Failure to Represent

What Mr. Hoffman says is true, although he puts it rather bluntly.

How much did you pay him and how much more do you owe him? The information you have supplied is insufficient for any attorney to give you a response as to whether malpractice occurred. You would have to give a detailed description of what your demand was, what the offer was, what the terms of the compromise were, was there any discussion of attorney fees and costs, did your attorney discuss the settlement with the other attorney or just have the other attorney write up the settlement [if that, did your attorney then try to get the terms you wanted or just did not discuss it], etc. Did he tell you that you were not going to get costs or attorney fees before you signed the stipulation; is it a situation where your lawyer can argue that he did tell you and you just may not have listen? Remember that the tenant's attorney would be guilty of malpractice if he/she did not try to get something out of the deal for the tenant and the first thing they would try to throw out are costs and attorney fees.

You still can argue with your attorney about his total fee, but also try to recall if before the case even went to court did he discuss with you the likelihood of recovering fees and costs?

Answered on 5/20/07, 8:46 pm

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