Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in California

Fraud and Perjury Question

I filed a fee arbitration dispute against my attorney. He made several false statements under penalty of law in his reply. e.g.I stated that he fraudulently kept advising me verbally and in writing that my attorney fees were recoverable. After few months he retracted and informed me that attorney fees were not recoverable by statute in a breach of contract case. He was aware of this from the beginning, but deliberately provided false advice in order to induce me to go to trial after willfully failing to act on opportunities to end the dispute. I provided evidence in the form of emails where the statements were explicitly made. The attorney brazenly denied that he EVER provided me any such advice, and that on the contrary ALWAYS advised me that attorney fees were not recoverable.

1) Given that the statement is made under penalty of law, is false and material to my complaint, does this (and other similar statements) constitute perjury?

2) Also, if he knowingly withheld advice that my case was a Summary Judgment matter is this a fraud? I have documented evidence that he had known this several months earlier, but was not in his interest to advise and did so only after matters began getting out of contol


Asked on 1/03/08, 6:04 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert L. Bennett Law offices of Robert L. Bennett

Re: Fraud and Perjury Question

Thanks for your well thought out statement of facts. You are very erudite and explicit and it is much appreciated.

You have set out perjury, but in the real world there is almost never a perjury charge, and the very few that there are are for lying while on the witness stand during a trial.

That leaves either suing the lawyer for malpractice, which you have under these circumstances, but the question is damages, since you don't indicate what losses has been suffered because of his actions.

The other remedy available, and this is in addition to malpractice, is to report his actions to the State Bar, where they will probably have a hearing, and determine, what, if any, punishment should be meted out to your attorney.

I can't go further here, because of lack of knowledge of the amount in dispute, and further details concerning the situation.

Please resubmit with the above information, or feel free to contact me by e-mail, or phone, at my office.

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Answered on 1/04/08, 2:23 pm


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