Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

Re: business

More information is needed.

$40,000 to form a business? What did the retainer agreement say.

You may be responsible for fees for the work performed prior to your termination of the representation.

If we can help let us know.

Services at a reasonable fee.

Re: business

I can't say for sure from your e-mail what kind of deposit or investment was created. Please feel free to e-mail me directly with more details. Danny Cevallos, Esquire

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Re: business

You asked about recovering a deposit or retainer from a law firm.

Your question leaves some questions. Deposits are usually non-refundable amounts to secure future performance. If you gave the law firm a deposit on the purchase of a business you may need to settle this matter at law, by hiring another lawyer to prosecute your claim.

If the deposit was actually a retainer for the services of the lawyer then that is a different story. You should continue to seek redress from the law firm. But also inform them if you have not heard from them and settled the matter by a certain date you will bring this matter to the attention of the Disciplianry Board of the Supreme Court (they regulate attorneys in PA). Your agreement may have provisions in it that prevent them from returning the funds or have other issues. The easiest road is to deal with them, but if that doesn't work the Disciplinary Board will certainly be able to help.

www. padisciplinaryboard .org/

To help clarify this, when a person puts down a deposit on a sale, that is when the sale takes place. If the purchaser later decides not to formally "close" the sale then the deposit is forfeited as liquidated damages unless there was an agreement to the contrary. The closing of a transaction is just the formal recognition of the sale that took place when the parties reached an agreement.

If I can be of assistance I would be happy to speak with you.

Regards,

Roger