Is there anything that you can recommend that my attorney do to stop this travesty of justice.
Optional Information: Miami, FloridaAlready Tried: nothing
Dear skip7777
Please explain a bit clearly - so that I may better assist you.
Thanks ~ Michelle
I was sued in 2002 for $950 and after ruling and an appeal the judge recused herself, then a new complaint was filed and the 2nd judge ruled and then recused herself. This case was assigned to the 3rd judge who ruled in my favor. The Plaintiff's attorney now filed a NEW law suit stating that the judges agreed on something, but not others so he wants reconsideration (the taking of my deposition as the Defendant; my atty not filing the Plaintiff's deposition and the Plaintiff's attorney never receiving a copy of the deposition; and Plaintiff's 2 attornies are claiming that my atty added something on a Notice of Hearing with the word at the top "add on," and 1 atty is claiming it was sent to another address than the usual one for him and 1 atty is claiming he never received it. So far, I've spent in excess of $50,000 in atty fees (using an equity line of credit on my home) and started taking anti-anxiety medication for the worrying this 5 year nightmare has caused me. Can I sue the 2 judges who percused themselves and/or court after ruling because they made mistakes? Is there something that my attorney could have or can do that he is not to stop this travesty of justice. Shouldn't the Plaintiff's attorney have filed an appeal rather than a NEW law suit in circuit court? Is there a number a times they can keep filing law suits in Circuit Court over the same issue? Any and all options for me will be appreciated. Thanks.
DearCustomer/p>
I appreciate you seeking my assistance in this matter. However, I am going to opt out and allow another expert to try to assist you with this - as it is out of my area of expertise. Thanks for your patience. Someone will be with you shortly.
Best ~ Michelle
I'm sure you will refer it to someone you feel has the expertise to help me. Thanks.
Dear Skip,
The court is generally immune form civil law suits for mistakes it makes. However these mistatkes form the basis for appeals, and dismissal of complaints and cases.
The plaintiff should have filed an appeal, in my opinion, however he had the right to file a seperate suit in his own behalf, by himself or his attorney. I do not know all the sides of the argument, nor the painfull details of the court records on this case. But this tactic is done when the previous case is so damaged, that the attorney feels it is in his clients best interest to start new in a differnt court or with a different judge. There could also be jurisdictional issues of the court that required a new filing. Sometimes, in judges chambers, the judges refuse to hear and direct the plaintiff to file a new case. YES, this is all legal and falls within the judicial discretion relative to the law and legal precedence.
There is no statutory limit to the number of times a law suit can be filed for a particular issue, except that once a judgement has been made, there is no double jeapordy. New evidence and a new charge can afford the potential for a new law suit, as well. Fortunately, at some point, the judge (court) will simply refuse to hear anymore motions on the issue. The court will simply refuse to allow another law suit on the matter.
I have not heard anyting mentioned about arbitration. In many cases of this nature, the court sometimes directs the plaintiff and defendent to work it out with an arbitrator.
What seems like a mis-carriage or travesty of justice to us, is sometimes merely a full exercise of the othersides rights incourt and an exhaution of legal maneuvers to avoid an inevitable outcome. It could actually be a legal strategy of the otherside. It is already haveing an effect on you, for example. How is your resolve? Will you go the distance? Are you intentional enough? If the other side sences that you will fold or cave, they are going to continue to push. There is strategy to these kind of things.
In a recent cause of action by my attorney's in NJ, we strategized in this way. We did things and filed certain motions, to represent our resolve and send a signal to the other side.
Did your attorney for example, submit a summary judgement to the court. If not, please talk to him or her and find out why not.
What do you mean by one a judgement haqs been made, there is "no double jeopardy?" What does no double jeopardy mean? The court has not directed us to work it out with an arbitrator. Would it be more beneficial for me to have an arbitrator? If so, how do I go about it? Regarding the summary judgement, on 4/16/07 the order GRANTED me atty fees for the 2005 case and within 30 days wanted a brief to argue my entitlement to atty fees for the 2002 case. I was also, granted to costs for both the 2002 and the 2005 case. The Plaintiff's motion for atty fees and sanctions was DENIED. The order allowed the depo was my 2 attornies, but not my depo. Should my atty go for the summary judgement NOW or wait until after the argument for my entitlement to atty fees for the 2002 case??????
Skip,
Once a judgement is made, it is final. Double jeopardy is being sued or tried on the same exact charge twice. In a criminal case, if found innocent, then you are innocent, and can not be brought to trial on that same exact charge again. A new charge, yes, or even a new trial, if evidence has changed.
In civil cases, once a judgement is final from the court, that judgement stands. It can be appealed, but you cannot be sued for the same exact thing twice once the case has been setteled. There are exceptions for allowing re-opening of cases and new hearings of course. So if I sued for a broken leg today and got a judgment, then later on , I cannot come back and sue for that same broken leg. I can sue for exacerbation of the injury, I can sue for sequal, but not that same thing.
A summar judgement is where you and your attorney get a since of what you think a judgement will bring at trial. ONce submitted and accepted by the court, the other side has to agree to it and settle or not agree to it and move to trial or arbitration. The summary judgement signals to the other side what you think you should get for damages. If the other side refuses the summary judgment, and you are in trial, and the settlement is within a certain range of the jury or court judgement, then the other side has to pay all attorney fees and court costs for both sides.
Mediation is a good way of moving to closure. You do not have to accept the mediation recommendation, and it can be appealed.
I am surprised mediation was not part of the process early on. It would be a good strategy to do things in this order.
You can go into mediation now, but because you are already in court, this might signal that you are growing weary and your resolve is fading. You should however talk to your attorney about this. He may not agree with these stratgegies in your case. Howeve you did ask for alternatives.
Say your attorney says something to the other side like: You know bill, this is really racking up some large court costs and our clients are really suffering some large attorney fees. Your attorney proposes in language that does not use the word settle, that you will be willing to fore go trial for a price 20% higher than what you really expect. This would start a back and forth negotiation between attornies, where you get to say yes or no to the final offer, which would be somewhere near where you want to be.
It may be too late for a summary judgement, but you should discuss it with your attorney.
If your attorne thinks you might win on attorney fees, you should wait.
Use my email to have a discussion and exploration with your attorney. In this venue, I do not know enough detail from court documents to advice you to go for it or not. I am only giving you some ideas to explore. Trust your attorney. Remember, he gets paid on contingency. If you get attorney fees, they will be taxable income, but that will leave you with more of your personal injury award which is not taxable.
Ed, please bear with me while I ask you a few more questions and I will pay you a bonus - no problem. All cases have been heard before judges only. Would it be better to request a jury trial or do the judges have such superior expertise in law that I am better off with them. There is no question in my mind that I am the victor in these cases - by 3 different judges!!! My attorney does think I will win on atty fees, but I want to know if a get a judgement let's say for $50,000 on the Plaintiffs (1 is a married woman with only a homestead property that she lives in with her husband) and the other is an attorney who is renting an apartment and is in his 60's. how do I go about collecting the $$$ and is this usually a 1/3 contingency by atty. Since I know her homestead asset when she sells it would I get paid off then, assuming I haven't collected it before that? How are their assets found out that can be liquidated to pay the judgement? My atty is being paid on a fee basis at $275 hour - not on a contingency basis. So far, I have trusted him but because of the depo that he took on the Plaintiff and not filing it and not delivering it to her atty causes me concern. What is the rule about his doing so? Thanks, Skip
Thank you for the interaction,,,I enjoy it actually.
Jury trials are more expensive and drive up costs. They take longer. On the other hand, if you have a case where the jury may be sympethetic to your cause, you can do better with the Jury. However, somethings are really a waste of time to use a jury. Using my slip and fall for an example:
In Burlington County NJ, we are 65% military and verteran residents. The twomilitary posts provide a lot of sustennce to the community. It was determined that because the community favored military, that I would do well at trial, especially because I was a veteran. This has nothing to do with my case.
On the other hand, because of the nature of my injury,and my level of recovery, the case was not worth much more than 150,000. The arbitrator gave me 115,00. So when we had an offer on the table of 138,000, we decided the cost, and lenght of time to go for a jury trial was not worth the difference, espcially considering, that at trial, the court can award shared damages. So we setteled and did not even use a judge.
Shared damages are: When a jury is directed by the judge to assing responsibility. The jury can decide that because of something you did, did not do, or said, you are determined to be responsible in part for your own cause of action. So lets say you are determined to be 25% contribuing to your own situation.. perhaps it is simply a reluctance to arbitrate. The judgemen is a seperate entity for the court, in which you could share responsibility. That means that any judgement would be reduce by your percentage of contribution to the conditions. IN this example, a 100,000 judgement would be reduce by 25% for your contribution, to 75% from the other side, or 75,000.
I believe in your case that the attorney has doen the right thing taking it to the judge. Some case have a history of only returning a range of judgements, and the judge has this information at his disposal, and so he can render a fair and impartial decision based on the facts. A jury trial for some things will simply not return enough more to justify the time and expense. ( you are wanting this to be over, right?)
My only concern is that the attorney is not doing it on contingency. This sends a message to me, that your case may not be real strong. (I know, you have had a decision in your favor 3 times) If this is the case, it explains a lot. For weak cases, time is on your side. Memories fade and the momentum causes atttornies and insurance companies paying the claims to want to move on. If the other side is being covered by home-owners and liability insurance, the the insurance companies are more willing to move on with a settlement after thier loss recovery funds have earned sufficient interest, dividends and revenues to cover the losses.
Also, with the attorney working on a fee basis, the longer it takes the more money he gets. AT some point, if you are not able to win the attorney fees, what will be left out of your settlement once you pay your attorney. I think you need to discuss this with your attorney.
When you get your final judgement, you can then start collection activites. This includes having your attorney file motions and petitions in court for garnishment of wages, and filing of liens against personal property. If payment is not made, you perfect the liens causing foreclosrue on personal assets.
Please also talk to your attorney about how the courts at your location handle collection activities.
There is a process for discovering assets.
Once you get a judgment against someone, you can try to collect on the judgment by issuing a Citation to Discover Assets, a wage garnishment, a non-wage garnishment, and/or a sheriff's sale of personal or real property
Ed, To better inform you, I was a SIGNATORY on an escrow account that had security deposit money in it of $950. The escrow agent was a corporation and I was not an officer or director or shareholder.. The person who was the sole officer, director and sharholder passed away and I offered to write the Plaintiff a check for the amount in the account....she started to dispute it and I told her to submit the front and back of cancelled checks as the lease also had this amount mentioned in it. She refused to cooperate and I left the employment of the real estate company shortly thereafter due to Florida law which requires there be a broker replacement within 15 days. She had an atty contact me still alleging a $2,100 amount and I wrote him a letter saying that i was trying to HELP her and repeated again that the $ in the escrow was $950. I had been advised by an attorney that I could sign checks out of the escrow accounts for the corporation AS LONG AS I FELT THEIR WOULD BE NO RECOURSE AGAINST ME. Because I perceived her to be a scam artist asking for more than was due her and was personally attacking the character of the deceased broker who was a personal friend of mine for over 26 years, I decided that she could sue the escrow agent, the corporation for any monies owed her. I had already left the company when her attorney filed suit. I guess this is why my atty is on a fee basis and not a contingency one -I am the defendant. This is a case of principle with me and not an economic one. Does this information alleviate your concern that the atty is not doing it on a contingency basis and that my case may not be real strong???
Yep....that does it. EVErything becomes perfectly clear now. I feel better knowing this.
I do not want to retry the case, but tell me:
was there ever, before the agents death, 2100 in the ecrow? WAs the escrow used for the purpose intened? were there expenditures to bring the balance down to the 950?
Experience: GPHR cer BS, U.S.C. Pueblo; Immigration Law by Am. Mngmnt Association & USCIS Bus. Liaison ofc 1999
There was never $2100 in the escrow. The escrow was held for the purpose intended and there were no expenditures to bring the balance down to 950. She sued me personally and not even the corporation in the beginning and after my atty kept making his case that they were not even joining the corp in the suit did they finally name the corp. too. After her deposition, the Plaintiff's atty dismissed me from the suit.