My attorney abscounded with all the proceeds from a court ordered settlement. How do I get my money?
Sunday, December 16th, 2007 at
1:48 pm
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robinson b asked:
First of all I live in the state of Arizona. The court ordered settlement was for approx. $94,000 I was to receive about $73,000 my attorney the balance of approx $21,000. I endorsed the back of a joint check made out to us both. He was then to forward me a check for the $73,000. He never paid me a cent. Not knowing any better I filed a lien on his property. However I never recovered anything. I even re-filed the lein when it became dated, still I never recovered anything. The attorney knowing all that he knows about legal issues filed a motion with a local judge to have the lein removed and taken from his credit files . Its been years and I have never been paid. Is it too late? Have I been cheated out of my money by a lawyer who is slicker than owl snot. What can I do to this SOB?
First of all I live in the state of Arizona. The court ordered settlement was for approx. $94,000 I was to receive about $73,000 my attorney the balance of approx $21,000. I endorsed the back of a joint check made out to us both. He was then to forward me a check for the $73,000. He never paid me a cent. Not knowing any better I filed a lien on his property. However I never recovered anything. I even re-filed the lein when it became dated, still I never recovered anything. The attorney knowing all that he knows about legal issues filed a motion with a local judge to have the lein removed and taken from his credit files . Its been years and I have never been paid. Is it too late? Have I been cheated out of my money by a lawyer who is slicker than owl snot. What can I do to this SOB?
You definitely need to report this to your local bar association. You tried to get him in civil court where he has more resources to fight back. In fact, what he did was criminal was carries severe penalties. I recommend going after him that way first and then try to get your money back. Get an attorney to help you!
well why the hell didnt you insist on having two separate cheques made out? i’m sorry, i have no bloody sympathy for people in matters like this- its your fault, and your loss. And dont say they wouldnt have made out two cheques, because they would’ve, if you’d have just asked. now if it had been a cheque in your name, you’d have something to ***** and moan about. but it wasnt. so you dont.
You can either file the lien again, if possible, or, since this guy’s abusing the law to steal from you, I think you should get another attorney to find out where the guy is, then get some very large men to pay him a visit. He probably won’t have the guts to do anything legal about it, for fear of being found out.
Have the men threaten his life unless he comes with them and they (and you) drag him back to the original judge.
I would talk to the bar association and probalby another lawyer. I’m sure you’re sick of them, but they’ll know how to sink this guy and get your money back. He could lose his practice and get throw in jail.
Contact the bar association.
As a condition of my closing on my house, the lender wanted me to pay down my outstanding debts to $500. There was one debt that was $575. I have my attorney a check.
A year later when I checked my credit report, the debt was not paid down. I contacted the attorney by phone and mail. No response.
I contacted the Bar Association. I got my measily $75 returned, and they questioned the accounting practices of the attorney.
If they did that for $75, imagine what they will do for $73,000.
Any attorney who fails to disburse $73,000 to a client would be disbarred and arrested for theft. The fact that the attorney was able to defeat your claim and is still in practice indicates that you are not telling us the whole story.
You didn’t say what the settlement was for, so there’s one possibility I’m going to mention. If this was for personal injuries, you may have had some medical bills that were to be paid from the settlement, and that’s why you didn’t get paid.
It having been years is a problem. You need to stop screwing around and take action.
Call the state Bar association and find out how to get a complaint filed immediately.
The problem with the lien is that you haven’t established with a court that the attorney actually owes you anything. You can’t just file a lien, you have to follow it up with a lawsuit.
If it’s been years, you may be barred by the statute of limitations from going to court, but if the Bar wants to hear the complaint, they will, no matter how long its been.
no he has not abscounded, that means he disappeared and ran off.
he is merely refusing to pay you.
What good is a lien, that only works if and when he sells the property or dies.
You get a judgement against him and place an attachment on his bank accounts. **
next have you went to the DA and pressed charges of fraud against him ( criminal court)