Legal Question in Elder Law in California

CIvil Suit pleading

We recently hired a attorney that

overcharge us for his services. Now

we still have to respond to this civil

suit for $250,000.00. Our time is

running out and we would like to

respond and deny the claims. What

form to we use for this? And what

are the steps after? We have no

more money so we have to do this

on our own for now.


Asked on 11/25/08, 1:42 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: CIvil Suit pleading

I won't comment on the overcharge claim; litigation fees are very high, in the tens of thousands. If you're going to do this as pro per's, you should go to the library or book stores and read as many self help books as you can find. There are some. Check also on Amazon.com for such books.

A few 'hints' from this site are going to do you no good. Court rules and procedures have to be understood and followed, and you'll have to figure out how to do discovery requests and responses, law and motion preparation, and introduction of testimony and other evidence at trial. These are things you learn in several years of law school and get by experience in practice. A few hints on how to do surgery also wouldn't do you a lot of good if you were sick. Your local law library has sets of 'Civil Procedure Before and During Trial' practice aid type books for lawyers, from companies such as Rutter Group and CEB. We use them all the time, but we have learned how to do so over time. They can be quite overwhelming for a novice.

You have a right to be scared, you have to do correctly all the things that an attorney would do for you.

I suggest you contact the local Lawyers Referral Service and local Bar Association to see if there are any 'public interest' or 'poverty law' legal firms willing to help you on reduced or waived fee arrangement. Check for them yourselves in the yellow pages and on line.

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Answered on 11/25/08, 1:56 pm
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: CIvil Suit pleading

In addition, check with your local church, charitable groups, etc, to see if they can provide help or direction to someone.

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Answered on 11/25/08, 1:57 pm
Phillip Lemmons, Esq. Phillip Lemmons APC, Attorneys at Law

Re: CIvil Suit pleading

We could not possibly answer this question without knowing more about your case.

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Answered on 11/25/08, 7:47 pm


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