Question for bored lawyers

[geoffil]

Here is some background info:
The realtor for my previous home (this happened in 2005) refused to show my house to anyone, took my listing off realtor.com, removed the lockbox, lots of other stuff and tried to submit phony offers to us. We filed a complaint with the Board of Realtors and she was found guilty of 3 ethics violations. The state board of professional licensing is investigating her. We filed a civil suit against her in 2006, then switched attorneys (because the first attorney thought the realtor would settle and then wasn't ready for trial ) who re-filed the case after the old attorney non-suited the case. So the new attorney set a status hearing for the new filing and then forgot to attend the hearing. We looked online at the status of our case a few days after the scheduled hearing and to my shock it said case closed, but a hearing was scheduled for this Thursday. I called my attorney and finally got the reason. He said he "forgot" to attend the hearing 2 weeks ago and the judge dismissed the case for want of prosecution. He filed a motion to vacate and will have a hearing on Thursday. This happened 2 weeks ago, but he never called to tell me he forgot to attend the hearing. Should I be mad or is this just a bump in the road?

My questions are:
1. Is this something to be worried about?
2. Does this affect my case?
3. Is my lawyer bad for doing this or does this happen from time to time?

[TheCalvinator24]

Here is some background info:
The realtor for my previous home (this happened in 2005) refused to show my house to anyone, took my listing off realtor.com, removed the lockbox, lots of other stuff and tried to submit phony offers to us. We filed a complaint with the Board of Realtors and she was found guilty of 3 ethics violations. The state board of professional licensing is investigating her. We filed a civil suit against her in 2006, then switched attorneys (because the first attorney thought the realtor would settle and then wasn't ready for trial ) who re-filed the case after the old attorney non-suited the case. So the new attorney set a status hearing for the new filing and then forgot to attend the hearing. We looked online at the status of our case a few days after the scheduled hearing and to my shock it said case closed, but a hearing was scheduled for this Thursday. I called my attorney and finally got the reason. He said he "forgot" to attend the hearing 2 weeks ago and the judge dismissed the case for want of prosecution. He filed a motion to vacate and will have a hearing on Thursday. This happened 2 weeks ago, but he never called to tell me he forgot to attend the hearing. Should I be mad or is this just a bump in the road?

My questions are:
1. Is this something to be worried about?
2. Does this affect my case?
3. Is my lawyer bad for doing this or does this happen from time to time?

1. Possibly. If the judge is nice, the dismissal will be set aside. If not, you may have to re-file, and the Defendant might be able to convince the next judge that you shouldn't get a third bite at the apple.

2. Certainly. See above.

And, even if the judge lets you have your case back, your attorney has already made a poor impression on the judge. The ideal of a judge is that he or she will be perfectly impartial, but judges are human, so I am sure it will affect any future proceedings.

3. Forgetting the hearing is bad, but not as uncommon as one might think. In Texas, it would be subject to a grievance, but if the attorney has no history of problems would likely result in no more than a private reprimand.

Failing to tell you about it is an obvious ethical violation. It's not the screw-up, but the cover-up that would get him in big, big trouble with the ethics committee.

[sunflower]

On the bright side, if it gets tossed out, now you can sue the lawyer for what you were suing the realtor for, plus more!

[geoffil]

Thanks for your reply Calvinator. My concern, too, was not telling us for 2 weeks until I made 7 phone calls, emailed and faxed him to get an answer about why the status said "closed." He did say he wouldn't charge for the hearing. I have paid him a retainer so it isn't like he only gets paid if I win.

[silverscreenselect]

Document everything and when you are done dealing with this lawyer, report him to your State Bar. Attorneys make mistakes but when one drops the ball completely, it's usually a symptom of something bigger and you're usually not the only client this is happening to. Your attorney could be having physical, emotional, financial, or substance problems or could have an overbooked practice that's gotten wildly out of control. In any event, other people could continue to be harmed until the Bar finds out about it and takes action.

And if your attorney is having problems, they may well affect his ability to represent you in the future, which you might want to keep in mind.

[geoffil]

Thanks for replying SSS. I am still so worried and mad about this. I don't want to get another attorney yet, but I still can't believe he never told us he forgot about the hearing.
Also, the first attorney has now sent us another bill for work he did after he non-suited the case. Now we have to deal with that too.
I need to go watch BAM to clear my head.

[Bob78164]

Here is some background info:
The realtor for my previous home (this happened in 2005) refused to show my house to anyone, took my listing off realtor.com, removed the lockbox, lots of other stuff and tried to submit phony offers to us. We filed a complaint with the Board of Realtors and she was found guilty of 3 ethics violations. The state board of professional licensing is investigating her. We filed a civil suit against her in 2006, then switched attorneys (because the first attorney thought the realtor would settle and then wasn't ready for trial ) who re-filed the case after the old attorney non-suited the case. So the new attorney set a status hearing for the new filing and then forgot to attend the hearing. We looked online at the status of our case a few days after the scheduled hearing and to my shock it said case closed, but a hearing was scheduled for this Thursday. I called my attorney and finally got the reason. He said he "forgot" to attend the hearing 2 weeks ago and the judge dismissed the case for want of prosecution. He filed a motion to vacate and will have a hearing on Thursday. This happened 2 weeks ago, but he never called to tell me he forgot to attend the hearing. Should I be mad or is this just a bump in the road?

My questions are:
1. Is this something to be worried about?
2. Does this affect my case?
3. Is my lawyer bad for doing this or does this happen from time to time?

I work in more of the big firm world, though we do represent some individuals, so I may have a different perspective. Having said that, I would consider the conduct you described completely inexcusable. Every malpractice insurer that I know of requires its attorneys to have a calendaring system with a human back-up, specifically so that no one "forgets" a hearing or other deadline. And for him not to update you after the case was dismissed was even worse.

How are you finding attorneys? Depending on the state you're in (Ohio?), someone here can probably put you in contact with a reasonably reliable attorney. Let us know if you'd like that kind of help. --Bob

[SportsFan68]

3. Forgetting the hearing is bad, but not as uncommon as one might think. In Texas, it would be subject to a grievance, but if the attorney has no history of problems would likely result in no more than a private reprimand.

In Podunkville, all the divorces are on the same day of the month, which is possible because by then everything's been hashed out, and it's rare that a case needs anything more than a "so ordered" or something at that point.

My attorney forgot he had a divorce that month, so I walked from court to his office to get him. He walked back up to the courthouse with me, and I was divorced 15 minutes later. The situation was way different from Geoffil's because I suffered no harm. I'm just saying Cal's right -- even if I'd had to wait another month for the divorce to go through or something, there would have been no reprimand.

[silverscreenselect]

Thanks for replying SSS. I am still so worried and mad about this. I don't want to get another attorney yet, but I still can't believe he never told us he forgot about the hearing.
Also, the first attorney has now sent us another bill for work he did after he non-suited the case. Now we have to deal with that too.
I need to go watch BAM to clear my head.

My feeling about this isn't just about his missing a hearing; it's about being completely unresposive to you until you essentially dragged it out of him after repeated messages. That's not a good sign.