Question anyone ever file law sutie against their attornedy for malpractice

[buckaroo]

attorney never filed motion to convert 13 to 7, indicated several times via e mail to me that motion in process, has had the information almost 6 months, now 13 has been dismissed for non payment which was per attorneys instructions

[southernbelle]

That really stinks and I don't know of anyone that sued their lawyer for malpractice, but it sounds like you have a good case. Did he keep giving you the run around for 6 whole months? Maybe if you have copies of your emails with your atty. you might have a case.

[magyar123]

Report that attorney to your state's Bar Associatiom, and to your state's Dept. of Justice.
Go to your area's TV stations. Most of the TV stations/reporters love to expose practices like that on their early evening newscasts.

[buckaroo]

yes did get run around for 6 months kept all e mails where he stated getting ready to file motion, motion will be filed by friday, will advise trustee of conversion, probably a dozen e mails indicating he was doing something, very large bankruptcy firm advertising on tv etc, can never get him via phone so e mmail;s probably answers one out of every 6, he has my money, easy to say get different lawyer but paid him 2000 dollars and dont have anymore to pay out foir new attorney

[HHM]

Keep in mind, when you sue for malpractice, you do need to assert "actual" damages.
Quick, question, did you pay him for the chapter 7, or was that $2K what you paid for the chapter 13?

But first, a couple problems with your situation.

1. The attorney completed your chapter 13 through confirmation, so he earned his fee for the chapter 13.
2. It is not the attorney's fault that you couldn't make your payments.
3. You let it go for six months.

As a result, it may acutally be quite difficult for you to demonstrate to the court that you have been damaged because dismissal of your 13 was inevitable. You stopped making payments, so your case was going to be dismissed anyway, not because of your attorney's actions, but because of yours. Also, the fact that YOU let it go for six months does not really help you; at some point, the judge may think it unreasonable on your part to have let it go for so long without getting another attorney.

Frankly, I do not think your case rises to the level of malpractice and it's unclear what damages you have suffered (after all, you would have had to paid your attorney for the chapter 7, so paying the attorney fee for a 7 would not be damages). What you probably have is an ethics violation which you would report to the State Bar (i.e. client neglect). It sounds like you have a decent paper-trail of e-mails, so that should be helpful. Also, you are not barred from filing chapter 7 because your chapter 13 was dismissed, and the e-mails can probably show the court that your refiling is in good faith.

Contact your state bar, and file a complaint. Don't worry about the malpractice thing, you have bigger issues, you need to get your BK back on track so you can get your financial life under control.

[buckaroo]

i stopped making the 13 payments on advice of my attorney which is documented, when i originally contacted h im about difficulty of continuing the 13 due to medical surgery, and other medical problems, in speaking with him he stated that there would be the cost of converting to 7 which i agreed to said it would be the filing fee to convert, all e mails from him indicated he was working on motion, several times stated that would have motion filed by end of week going way back to early march, each additional e mail from him in response to my inquiries always said working on it, tobe filed soon, by friday, early next week and so on, in my opinion he was completely negligent by not following thru on his statements, i was an no asset case, judgement proof only income ss and small pension, as stated before am 74 and health costs have really overtaken me,

[2confused]

This wouldn't happen to be in San Diego, would it? Have you done research on your attorney, perhaps he already has had something reported to the BAR.

[buckaroo]

not san diego, philadelphia area, large bankruptcy firm

[buckaroo]

ok heres where we stand now, just received e mail from attorney that motion to convert has been filed and hearing scheuled for june 23, dont really know what this means he also advised that trustee has been informed, meantime still wondering if trustees motion to dismiss will be held until june 23, boy what a mess on something i would guess is not out of the ordinary

[AngelinaCat]

Hi buckaroo:

Your situation sounds similar to ours in the matter on lawyer's non-communication. If you search on all the posts that I have made, and that my husband, AngelinaCatHub, has made, you will see constant frustration with our ability to communicate with our attorney. Our situation is in North Florida and is a single PA not a firm. We have a 2004 Examination coming up this Thursday, as a result of a mistake she made, and after sending via email, reams of paperwork, have yet to hear anything. We also paid big bucks up front, and have no more money to fire her and hire another. We are becoming well educated in BK law out of self-defense. If our case gets dismissed, we'll wait whatever time need be and re-file ourselves. We can't muck up any worse than a paid frofessional. *koff* *koff*

Our best wishes to you~~~

[Flamingo]

i stopped making the 13 payments on advice of my attorney which is documented, when i originally contacted h im about difficulty of continuing the 13 due to medical surgery, and other medical problems, in speaking with him he stated that there would be the cost of converting to 7 which i agreed to said it would be the filing fee to convert, all e mails from him indicated he was working on motion, several times stated that would have motion filed by end of week going way back to early march, each additional e mail from him in response to my inquiries always said working on it, tobe filed soon, by friday, early next week and so on, in my opinion he was completely negligent by not following thru on his statements, i was an no asset case, judgement proof only income ss and small pension, as stated before am 74 and health costs have really overtaken me,

Buckaroo - You have two fish to fry as others have indicated to you - first, get yourself back on track - talk to your State Bar Association about what happened and find out what to do. I would also contact the Clerk of the BK Court and explain what happened here. As long as you have the paper trail of information you state you have, another attorney can get this cleared up for you. Secondly, while this may not fall under malpractice, as the Moderator stated it could be another sort of violation on the part of the attorney; it may lie under whether or not you actually retained him/her to convert. You have some investigating and phone calls to make on this issue but you need to get it straightened out so you can get back on track.

Before anyone retains any attorney to file BK or any other legal matter, it is always best to call one's Bar Association in the state the attorney practices and ask about the attorney or to research the attorney and/or firm online as to any complaints or other issues. The same goes with a doctor or any other professional that you intend to hire for any reason.

[HHM]

Let's back up a second...in your first post, you said your case "had been dismissed", now you say the trustee only filed a "motion to dismiss".

That is a HUGE difference. If your case was not "actually dismissed" then this is a situation of "no harm no foul". And since the attorney did file the motion to convert, you don't haven anything to even take to the state bar. In fact, the attorney could argue that his actions have been a net benefit for you, you have received the benefit of the automatic stay for nearly 6 months without have to make a chapter 13 payment and now, before dismissal you are being converted to a chapter 7.