Hired an attorney now he is not returning my calls or email. What do I do?I hired my attorney for a few cases, I paid him money upfront to s...

Question

Hired an attorney now he is not returning my calls or email. What do I do?

I hired my attorney for a few cases, I paid him money upfront to start and the remainder to be paid on contingency. while I caught him lying on may occasions he would always promise me that it was mistakes. My cases are still in the middle of litigation and now he is not returning my calls nor to my emails. I feel betrayed and most important I'm trying to figure out how to get my cases resolved. What are my options and what is the best solution?

Answer

Your attorney does have a duty to communicate with you, and you also have a right to terminate his services if you are unsatisfied. However, the extent of your attorney rights to payment if the cases result in recovery will be determined by the Retainer Agreement, which may be ambiguous as to what his fee would be in the event you replaced him with another attorney. I would suggest looking closely at the language of the Retainer Agreement. If it is not clear, the amount that would be due to him would either be determined by the court or you could submit the fee dispute to mandatory arbitration through the Appellate Division pursuant to 22 N.Y.C.R.R. Sec. 137.

The bottom line is that you have the right to terminate the attorney's services, but he is still entitled to payment for any services rendered to the point of termination, and the amount of that payment may be ambiguous. If you like, you could email me a copy of the Retainer Agreement, and I could give you my input on how it is likely to be interpreted.