Attorney NO-SHOW at 341 hearing!

[OutaBusiness]

So I was so stressed, scared & anxious for today's 341 meeting at 1pm & I was the first one called up by Trustee, however my attorney had not shown up yet. At 1:05pm I call attorney's office, they don't know where he is, & they tell me they'll call me back. 1:15pm I get called again by the Trustee, still no attorney so I call their office again & get sent straight to voicemail. ????? This attorney's office were the ones that told me what date/time to be here plus I got my meeting notice too confirming date/time.

I'm confused & visibly upset/crying at the meeting.....another attorney approaches me & says he understands my predicament & that I'd like to get this 341 meeting over today so he will sit with me in front of Trustee & so I give him a 5 minute briefing on my case & we walk in.

I'm pretty shaken & still in a daze that my attorney is no where to be found. Meeting goes fast, Trustee asks for copy of income tax return to be sent to him, asks for an Amendment to be filed to reflect current living expenses that were wrong on BK schedules, asked about house sale & when is closing date, & I'm out of there 5 minutes later.

I call my MIA attorney's office to let them know how the meeting went without him & the secretary apologizes & says she somehow forgot to put it on his calendar & she says that he was working in a different office too far away to drive over to attend meeting. ???? Why didn't he call & appear by phone with me?

By the way, his office staff has been REALLY crappy to deal with for the past 2 months, not impressed with them, always snippy with me like they have more important clients than lil ole bankrupt me. I already felt lowly with my situation & they made it even worse.

I told his secretary that an incredibly nice & extremely helpful attorney at the meeting represented me so we wouldn't have to reschedule the meeting another month from now so I could get it done & get on with my life.

I asked the secretary to have my attorney call me so I can discuss with him how it went. I HAVE NOT HEARD FROM HIM! I emailed them to tell them what Trustee wants sent & have gotten no response. I'm speechless. You'd think they would feel bad about this & be falling over themselves to make it right?? I paid $1,900 to file BK schedules & represent me on a very stressful day at the 341 meeting & he doesn't show up? He doesn't even call?

What recourse would I have against this attorney/office? Can't really ask for refund because Trustee will take the money.....I'm just completely floored that he was a NO SHOW! And hasn't called me himself! Just took my money & ran. How do I know that they will submit the documentation that the Trustee asked for?

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this normal & common?? Should I just let it go & chalk it up for it being on it's way to being over?

[Meatstick]

Sounds like the standard "We got your money already, what are you going to do" syndrome.

I would file a complaint with the state bar association for starters and then file one with the BBB. As a matter of fact I would do everything I can to make sure this doesn't happen to anyon else.

Good luck !

[Universal]

So I was so stressed, scared & anxious for today's 341 meeting at 1pm & I was the first one called up by Trustee, however my attorney had not shown up yet. At 1:05pm I call attorney's office, they don't know where he is, & they tell me they'll call me back. 1:15pm I get called again by the Trustee, still no attorney so I call their office again & get sent straight to voicemail. ????? This attorney's office were the ones that told me what date/time to be here plus I got my meeting notice too confirming date/time.

I'm confused & visibly upset/crying at the meeting.....another attorney approaches me & says he understands my predicament & that I'd like to get this 341 meeting over today so he will sit with me in front of Trustee & so I give him a 5 minute briefing on my case & we walk in.

I'm pretty shaken & still in a daze that my attorney is no where to be found. Meeting goes fast, Trustee asks for copy of income tax return to be sent to him, asks for an Amendment to be filed to reflect current living expenses that were wrong on BK schedules, asked about house sale & when is closing date, & I'm out of there 5 minutes later.

I call my MIA attorney's office to let them know how the meeting went without him & the secretary apologizes & says she somehow forgot to put it on his calendar & she says that he was working in a different office too far away to drive over to attend meeting. ???? Why didn't he call & appear by phone with me?

By the way, his office staff has been REALLY crappy to deal with for the past 2 months, not impressed with them, always snippy with me like they have more important clients than lil ole bankrupt me. I already felt lowly with my situation & they made it even worse.

I told his secretary that an incredibly nice & extremely helpful attorney at the meeting represented me so we wouldn't have to reschedule the meeting another month from now so I could get it done & get on with my life.

I asked the secretary to have my attorney call me so I can discuss with him how it went. I HAVE NOT HEARD FROM HIM! I emailed them to tell them what Trustee wants sent & have gotten no response. I'm speechless. You'd think they would feel bad about this & be falling over themselves to make it right?? I paid $1,900 to file BK schedules & represent me on a very stressful day at the 341 meeting & he doesn't show up? He doesn't even call?

What recourse would I have against this attorney/office? Can't really ask for refund because Trustee will take the money.....I'm just completely floored that he was a NO SHOW! And hasn't called me himself! Just took my money & ran. How do I know that they will submit the documentation that the Trustee asked for?

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this normal & common?? Should I just let it go & chalk it up for it being on it's way to being over?

Yes. File Complaint with State Bar and other local Bars that the atty. may be a member of. Yes, mistakes do happen, and sometimes things don't get put on the calendar, but that is no excuse for bad and rude behavior on atty's part or office staff.

[Flamingo]

I am amazed that the trustee allowed another attorney to sit there with you to represent you and did not question where your attorney was. I am also amazed that the attorney's office did not call the Court and advise them of the mistake as to the scheduling. I'm sorry - I've worked in professional legal offices most of my career and I can only recall one maybe two times during that time that anyone screwed up royally in forgetting a court date - that is slipshod work in todays computer and online calendar world. Since your attorney was not there to represent you, I am wondering if the whole thing is legit since both he and you were to be there and there was an unretained attorney in his place that you did not know and he did not know you. If you did not show up, the hearing would not continue and be rescheduled.

In the morning call your State Bar Association and ask to speak to someone about the situation and what you can do. Then I would call your attorney's office and advise them you filed a complaint and you need to find out from the Clerk of thE BK Court whether it was OK to have another attorney there who pretended to be your attorney.

I certainly hope all works out for you...

[OutaBusiness]

Thanks for the reply, that's EXACTLY what I was thinking. I think I may call that extremely helpful attorney that rescued me today & see if he'll represent me post-341 until the discharge. We just need to file an Amendment & produce tax return copy to Trustee. Anyone could be better than this other attorney who has been so incredibly non-responsive through the entire process, I would call & leave a message or email & it would be literally a week or more before I heard anything & I would have to remind his office that I need to talk to him. Ridiculous.

I just read on the Oklahoma Bar Assoc webpage that you can file a complaint when a lawyer consistently does not respond to questions about your case, to inform you about court dates or to appear in court & when lawyer fails to follow through with what was promised or does not perform the action in a timely manner. My signed contract says specifically that he was to prepare the BK schedules (which I entered everything myself online & the paralegal tweeked it), attendance at the 341 meeting (he was NO SHOW), initial meeting with attorney (which DID NOT take place until 3 days before filing & the paralegal acted like it was no big deal that I had never been allowed to meet with him yet & said she had no idea I didn't meet with him ???) & a meeting with the paralegal to finalize BK schedules (occurred one month before filing).

I downloaded the complaint form from the bar assoc online. I'm going to ask for a partial refund due to this outrageous event. I'm also going to submit honest reviews online websites about paying him & not getting timely responses, rude staff & he won't show up to your 341 meeting.

I'm still floored that he didn't even call me to apologize!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OutaBusiness]

Oh thank you so much for this information....I will call them in the morning & see what I can find out. It didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be legit if he wasn't my attorney....I was just wanting this nightmare to all be over. Thanks so very much for your post.

[OutaBusiness]

thanks

I am amazed that the trustee allowed another attorney to sit there with you to represent you and did not question where your attorney was. I am also amazed that the attorney's office did not call the Court and advise them of the mistake as to the scheduling. I'm sorry - I've worked in professional legal offices most of my career and I can only recall one maybe two times during that time that anyone screwed up royally in forgetting a court date - that is slipshod work in todays computer and online calendar world. Since your attorney was not there to represent you, I am wondering if the whole thing is legit since both he and you were to be there and there was an unretained attorney in his place that you did not know and he did not know you. If you did not show up, the hearing would not continue and be rescheduled.

In the morning call your State Bar Association and ask to speak to someone about the situation and what you can do. Then I would call your attorney's office and advise them you filed a complaint and you need to find out from the Clerk of thE BK Court whether it was OK to have another attorney there who pretended to be your attorney.

I certainly hope all works out for you...

Thank you Flamingo.....VERY helpful, I truly appreciate it. I'm mentally exhausted right now & appreciate this incredible forum & the incredible people that help contribute.

[Flamingo]

You mention contacting the other attorney to represent you. Before you do anything at all, talk to someone at the State Bar Association - in your phone book under your "state" section (or could be under the "lawyer" section also). There is a lot more to the process than retaining another attorney at this point since you are already represented. I would also call the Clerk of the BK Court and advise him of what occurred and what you are doing.

[OutaBusiness]

You mention contacting the other attorney to represent you. Before you do anything at all, talk to someone at the State Bar Association - in your phone book under your "state" section (or could be under the "lawyer" section also). There is a lot more to the process than retaining another attorney at this point since you are already represented. I would also call the Clerk of the BK Court and advise him of what occurred and what you are doing.

Will do, thanks again!

[tigergem]

Some of the stories on here make me wonder why anybody hires a bankruptcy attorney. The stuff y'all have to put up with just amazes me. I'll admit, there were times when I wished I could have hired an attorney to deal with some of the stress. But then who would I have hired to deal with the stress of being represented by an attorney?

[Flamingo]

Some of the stories on here make me wonder why anybody hires a bankruptcy attorney. The stuff y'all have to put up with just amazes me. I'll admit, there were times when I wished I could have hired an attorney to deal with some of the stress. But then who would I have hired to deal with the stress of being represented by an attorney?

LOL! There are bad apples in every profession. With the internet today and other means of researching a law firm or attorney (or doctor, CPA, etc.), most can be gleaned out. I gather from the OP's posting that the OP probably went to a "BK mill" as something like this rarely, if ever, occurs in a decent law firm. What concerns me about the OP's posting is that another attorney sitting with her and the trustee did not identify himself as not being her attorney. Something just doesn't come together here as the trustee would have continued the matter if the retained attorney, or his/her assigned representative, was not there. Most trustees know attorneys from their district as they handle cases for that attorney or the firm they are associated with all the time and I am amazed that this attorney approached the OP and said he would stay with her as the attorney should know she is already represented. Something doesn't quite come together here or there is something being left out by the OP.

[OutaBusiness]

LOL! There are bad apples in every profession. With the internet today and other means of researching a law firm or attorney (or doctor, CPA, etc.), most can be gleaned out. I gather from the OP's posting that the OP probably went to a "BK mill" as something like this rarely, if ever, occurs in a decent law firm. What concerns me about the OP's posting is that another attorney sitting with her and the trustee did not identify himself as not being her attorney. Something just doesn't come together here as the trustee would have continued the matter if the retained attorney, or his/her assigned representative, was not there. Most trustees know attorneys from their district as they handle cases for that attorney or the firm they are associated with all the time and I am amazed that this attorney approached the OP and said he would stay with her as the attorney should know she is already represented. Something doesn't quite come together here or there is something being left out by the OP.

The Trustee knew my attorney wasn't there because they had called my name more than once to come up & each time I told them my attorney was no where to be found per his office (they said they didn't know where he was!). I told the Trustee who my attorney was & he just shook his head, he knew my attorney & said "heaven forbid he just forgot". The Trustee knew the attorney sitting with me during 341 meeting was not my original attorney & knew he had offered to sit with me just to get the meeting over with. The first question Trustee asked me was if I wanted to proceed or continue the meeting for another date & I said I wanted to proceed today.

I initially interviewed attorneys last Oct/Nov had a 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice of attorneys & I chose the 1st choice & hired him. He was very experienced, helpful, knowledgable & then after a month of representation told me that he was retiring in December & that all of his BK cases were being transferred to this other attorney (the one I have now) who had been practicing 20+ years solo in his own law firm doing tax & BK matters. I had never heard of this other attorney that they dumped me on but I had no choice, all my money had been paid & I had no money left to go pay my 2nd choice attorney to file. I was stuck with this guy & his office. The biggest problem aside from his No-Show at the 341, is that this office is so non-responsive & sometimes rude.....I can't stand his Paralegal. She's the one that notified me of the 341 meeting date/time in the first place. During one conversation, she said she was offended by me thinking that she doesn't relay all of my questions/info to the attorney. What am I supposed to think when I wait days & weeks for response emails, call backs, & ask to speak to the attorney & never hear from him, never get to even meet with him in person until 3 days before I freakin file which was a month & a half after I had reviewed all my BK schedule information with the Paralegal which I entered online myself into their BK filing system! Any time I had a legal question, she would answer it....I wouldn't get a call from the attorney even though she said she would have him call me.....it's been exhausting dealing with his office & then to have him be a NO-Show....nice. I am filing BK on mainly business debt on a business that I had to close in Dec so I had a lot of technical questions concerning this, it's not just a simple BK of consumer debt....there are withholding taxes involved, liens on the house from the SBA loan, repo'd business equipment, I filed by myself not including my husband, had lien stripping questions....etc. It's nerve racking not getting reassured by your attorney thru the process.

My attorney finally called me this morning on his drive into work & apologized for it not getting put on his calendar & that he f'd up & it was the only time it had happen in his 30 years of BK practice (of course had to happen to me!). He talked to me at length this morning, apologizing, was matter of fact about everything, but apologetic, discussing everything that happened at the 341 & assured me all the docs that the TRustee asked for would be sent today. He answered all my questions & I feel better....not as TICKED off as I was yesterday when I didn't hear from him all day after the 341 meeting.

[Mensa1]

Glad you Atty finally manned up here and contacted you, and apologized. Least he could do. Ppl do make mistakes but this is pretty high stakes in terms of your life for them to be f'ing up here. Now, with all that said, I would continue to ride this thing through with him; maybe he will give you extra "kid glove" treatment from here on out. If all is fairly straight forward in your case, there may be little else required... if all the info you provided, that TT requested, was pretty straight forward. Best of luck in getting everything wrapped up from here on out in a much less eventful manner. GL

[OutaBusiness]

Glad you Atty finally manned up here and contacted you, and apologized. Least he could do. Ppl do make mistakes but this is pretty high stakes in terms of your life for them to be f'ing up here. Now, with all that said, I would continue to ride this thing through with him; maybe he will give you extra "kid glove" treatment from here on out. If all is fairly straight forward in your case, there may be little else required... if all the info you provided, that TT requested, was pretty straight forward. Best of luck in getting everything wrapped up from here on out in a much less eventful manner. GL

I agree, it sounds like my attorney & his office are going to be more responsive this time, pay closer attention. The attorney also gave me his cell phone number to call him.....before I would leave message every 2 days with his office secretary who would never let me talk to him. I just double checked with his office to see when they will send my tax return to Trustee & they immediately responded (first time for everything!) & said it had already been sent this morning. YAY!

[mtbc]

Can an attorney sit with you and offer advice even if they aren't "your" attorney? I am wondering if the trustee let the other attorney sit in more as if they were a friend who was licensed to offer legal advice, rather than them officially representing the debtor? Is that kind of thing technically possible, or is there no sharp distinction? Perhaps that helps to make the situation "okay".