ComplaintsforLaw Offices of Michael Bialys The DUI MAN

• Initial Complaint

  03/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This attorney was originally retained on 3/7/2024 on flat fee basis for a grand total of 7K for the entire case per the signed contract and per the invoice/receipt provided after I made the first payment of 2500 towards the 7000 agreed upon total fee using my credit card. This attorney was not retained on hourly basis and was not retained to do some work here and there just so he can justify charging fees then not to continue with the case.The agreement per the signed contract was to take on the entire case including trial for 7K total And outside the contract he told my son witness and myself verbally on the phone and in his office that if he cant stay on the case for any reason then he would refund the entire fees paid to him in full. My Son and I informed him well before retaining him that the judge is not going to give him a-lot of time to prepare and was set to go to trial. He assured us both that he can work it out with the judge as a new incoming attorney on the case that needs time for discovery. He told us both that if the judge doesnt give him the time he needs and he cant stay on the case then he will refund the money in full since it wouldnt be my fault. He then made a court appearance remotely on 3/8/2024 where he tried to ask the judge for 60days discovery period and preparation for trial and the judge only agreed to giving him 30days and asked him to commit to trial and he refused saying this is not enough time to prepare for trial. Shortly after, he informed my son and I client that he wouldnt be continuing on the case and that he will only be refunding 2000 from the original 2500 that was paid to him as an initial payment. My son and I both encouraged him to stay on the case and he kept refusing saying he cant since he needs more time to prepare and that he has a personal matter coming up as well which is a surgery for his wife and that he needs to be with her and he said he couldnt mention that to the court.

  Business response

  03/19/2024

  I am a little bit at a disadvantage here because under attorney-client confidentiality I am not allowed to post any of my correspondents.That said I did provide this client with a detailed accounting. If you review the attached retainer, it says that if it becomes relevant and for the purposes of accounting I bill on an hourly basis. My normal hourly fee is 600 an hour and as a courtesy I cut it down to 500 an hour. I spent well over 2 hours on this case in conversation with him and his family alone. This is also pointed out in the retainer. My time as an attorney is billable. I did appear in court on his behalf to try and get into the case but was unable to do so as I was pushed to go to trial in a much smaller time frame than I felt ethically comfortable. I had correspondence with his current attorney, which again I'm not at liberty to discuss but I provided a very detailed accounting which shows that I spent well over 2 hours on this case.  If the Better Business Bureau is inclined to follow up on this, I would ask that this client provide the accounting that I am ethically required to provide under State Bar rules to the client. I can also prove my court appearance by a minute order in court as well as documentation, if need be, to the State Bar once again I am not allowed to provide this on a public forum. I refunded a sizable amount of his initial fee.  
  
  As far as negotiating his refund he was refunded in accordance with the retainer agreement. As far as not taking on this case for trial is a very serious matter with very serious repercussions. I have this on a public court record his third attorney. For this reason, this was pushed by the court to be ready for trial in the time frame that I felt ethically compromised. This is all on a court record. As far as bringing up my wife's surgery I believe that shows the ethics of the people involved here. My wife is having surgery and we'll be incapacitated for a while, and we'll need my assistance. It's very clear that they don't have the same ethical boundary as I do or in fact the same moral compass. I only hope that they understand the importance of family at some point, not just money. I told them that they were free to exercise any legal remedies available. I stand by my performance in this situation and my nearly 20 years of an unblemished professional reputation. Had I been allotted the time from the court I would have been able to take this case to trial competently.  The refund that has bee issued stands. 

  Customer response

  03/21/2024

   
  Complaint: 21441029
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  the agreement was for a full refund with a witness present on this agreement.  The agreement wasnt even signed by me.  He had my son sign it in a hurry as he had another obligation to attend to on the day he was retained. He made it clear if he cant take  on the case then he would refund the money. He never said he would charge hourly for just sending an email or a phone call or one court appearance.  He was hired for the entire case or none of it.    He stole 1000 dollars for doing absolutely nothing on this case and he is talking about ethics? Also, his wifes surgery wasnt brought up and wasnt discussed until he himself brought it up and used it as an excuse of why he needed 60days to prepare for trial and not be able to do it in 30days which is still very sufficient time.  He hid the fact he has a personal matter with his wife coming up and while we wish her the best, he shouldve been honest and transparent from the get go about his availability and schedule prior to charging 2500 dollars which was the initial payment towards 7000 retainer.  This attorney mishandled this entire situation and got so greedy even though he know all the circumstances upfront.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  03/21/2024

  I believe that the sign retainer agreement speaks for itself and the terms they're in. Unfortunately we're going to have to agree to disagree I put time into this case and did everything that I ethically felt I could and should do. Once again the terms of the retainer are very clear regarding hourly billing when an entire retainer is not able to be performed. That said I am not prepared to issue any additional refund and the client does not seem to want to provide the accounting that I provided to him I wish him the best of luck with his matter. It should be noted as it was on the public record that I was the third attorney in this matter which played into the fact that the judge wanted this matter to move forward quickly. Once again I am not inclined issue a refund in any additional amount.

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