My Lawyer Took My Money And Did Nothing For 6 Months

by Chris

I had to look for a lawyer after getting hurt on someone else's property. I tried my best to find the best one after meeting with a few.

She was very nice and helpful during the consultation and told me within the next few months, she would have my case ready. Essentially she made it sound like this was standard and would be no problem for her.

I agreed to pay $1,800 upfront with the rest settled later. Fast forward to a couple of months later when I assumed she was working on getting everything together. I called to inquire how everything is going and she said there was no problem and to check back in six weeks.

I checked back six weeks later and her assistant told me she had a family emergency and had to leave to another state for a couple of weeks. I asked for her to call back when she is back from out of town. A few weeks go by and she still had not called. At that point I was getting worried. I tried and tried to get a hold of her but there was always some excuse from her assistant.

I finally went to the law firm office and waited outside in the morning hoping I could catch her in person. Surprisingly, I didn't have to wait long and she was pretty stunned to see me. I knew that I had a huge problem at that point just from the way she looked at me. I asked her why it's taking so long and how much progress has been made.

She gave me a bunch of excuses about this and that happening in her personal life and she had not even started putting my case together yet! I confronted her on the fact that a few months earlier she told me on the phone that it was almost complete and only six weeks left.

I demanded my money and paperwork back but she refused saying she has no obligation to refund anything. My question is, should I talk to another lawyer about getting my money back or should I report this lawyer to the bar? Does anyone know how to deal with a situation like this?