Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

In my opinion the answer would be somewhere between $0 and $500. The untimate answer would depend on what was discussed regarding fees. Attorneys can (and do) bill for their time which many times does include phone calls and reviewing paperwork prior to any legal action being filed. Many times no legal action is untlimatley filed after a review of the issues by an attorney. Whether or not the fee is reasonable depends on the time spent by the attorney on the phone calls and reviewing your paperwork. An hourly charge of several hundred dollars is not uncommon. The typical fee that you state for an eviction usually is based on a flat fee schedule typically charged by landlord/tenant attorneys however there are some attorneys that charge hourly for all of their services, including evictions. That is why the answer to your question will depend on your attorney's billing practice and what information you were given regarding his fees. The bottom line is that you probably owe something.