Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

No. But find out why your attorney thinks the way he or she does, and understand all the consequences of not taking the attorney's advice, including possible loss of the attorney representing you.

I agree with Mr. Selik. You may also want to invest in obtaining a second opinion, to verify your instinct.

I agree with the previous answers. The client has the final word in how their case is resolved and most aspects of how it is handled, as long as it does not require the attorney to violate the law, or the rules and regulations on required and prohibited attorney conduct. Many attorneys, myself included, also include a provision in their attorney/client agreements that provides the attorney controls procedural aspects of the case and decisions about them, such as the timing and extent of discovery, motions and other pretrial procedure, the choice and order of presenting evidence at trial, etc. Other than that, the client is free to make the final decisions in the case.

As Mr. Selik said, however, refusing to follow your attorney's advice can have significant consequences, and not only the obvious consequences if you are wrong and the attorney turns out to be right. If a client consistently refuses to follow the attorney's advice, or refuses on a really serious issue, that is indicative of a serious break-down in the attorney/client relationship and may not only permit, but require the attorney to withdraw from the case. In addition, in a contingency fee case, where the attorney only gets paid when the case settles or a judgment is paid, the client's refusal to settle for an amount the attorney advises is a good settlement, will result in the attorney having to continue to work for what may likely be no better and possibly a far worse result. At that point you are messing with the attorney's livelihood and most if not all contingency attorneys will at least seriously consider withdrawing from a case if the client is unreasonable about following the attorney's advice regarding settlement. At that point the attorney has a right to withdraw, and a lien for fees on the final judgment or settlement, and the client is left looking for a new attorney to take over.