Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California
This question has several components on the same subject. I am a Plaintiff in a civil suit. I had an attorney representing me but he asked for a lot more money from me and I could no longer afford to continue, so I am now in Pro Per.
After several requests for copies of my papers including all case documents, my attorney FINALLY provided me with copies....at an exhorbitant cost, far more than I could have had done myself...and charged me for multiple duplicate copies of the same documents...
While he was representing me there were some discovery requests that he had made on the opposing party which apparently were never responded to, including request for production of documents....but he never pursued the discovery further. As far as I know there is a document request out there that is months old and I don't know how to proceed further.
Also, the opposing party submitted 51 special interrogatories to me while I was represented by this attorney and he instructed me to answer them all....I have recently learned that the maximum allowed without a special declaration of necessity is 35, so why did this attorney have me answer all 51 without even objecting???
Bottom line is that I'm not sure that I was properly represented by this attorney and what my recourses are now....can anyone give me some good information please??? Thank you!
3 Answers from Attorneys
Your attorney should not have charged you for a copy of the file, unless it so stated in the fee agreement.
You will need to ask your former attorney or the adverse if that discovery was answered or not.
A party can voluntarily answer additional interrogatories, and it is often a good idea to do so. Your former attorney may have decided he wanted them answered even without a declaration of due cause.
You should look for a new attorney as litigating your own case is very difficult, fraught with traps and will take a great deal of your time, in my opinion.
Your attorney made a very serious ethical violation regarding your papers. The case files belong to you. You Should have been given the original files. The attorney only had a right to make copies for his records, and it was illegal to charge you for that unless, as Mr. Selik says, it was in your retainer agreement up front. Report him to the state bar.
I agree with the other attorneys, but point out that you need to make sure the civil litigation that you are in now gets handled properly.
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