Henderson, Mokhtari & Weatherly CoL.P.A

Though it is never the intent of the offices of Henderson & Weatherly to insult or disparage any former, current, and certainly future potential client of this firm, the rejection posted by the complaining party in this matter seems to have inflicted such a consequence upon herself This client, and her family, was, from the outset, difficult and unreasonable Certainly any person who finds it necessary to wear a body camera and record conversations can at least be categorized as abnormal As criminal defense attorneys, however, we are familiar with dealing with all kinds of persons, and do our very best to accommodate them all to the best of our abilities The complaining party was treated no differently The questions and issues raised by the complaining party do more to highlight this person's unreasonable expectations and complete misunderstanding of the nature of legal representation in criminal proceedings than to expose any fault in the professionalism, policies or procedures of this office or its attorneys The complaining party asks why she would ever hire an attorney for an "open ended case" and insists that all legal fees discussed were to be covered by the $5,fee paid That statement is patently untrue The case for which Henderson & Weatherly was retained involved over twenty (20) counts of rape and sexual abuse, and was significant enough for the judge to set a one million dollar bond for the defendant in that case What attorney in their right mind would agree to accept $5,to not only handle a case of that magnitude, but in all likelihood, take such a case to trial? Given the time and attention such a serious case like that requires, to agree to take on such a case for only $5,would result in an hourly rate payment of approximately ten cents A case like that costs tens of thousands of dollars to properly defend Though such a fact might not necessarily be considered common knowledge, certainly the average person, having no real experience with hiring criminal defense attorneys, would at least be aware that $5,is not nearly enough to cover the cost for that type of case The complaining party was informed prior to the initial meeting that the $5,payment was merely a down payment towards the total fee should the case be resolved without trial, and that additional trial fees would need to be assessed should the case proceed to trial This information was provided to the complaining party during the initial, over the phone, consultation The complaining party refuses to acknowledge that conversation and further refuses to acknowledge that $5,is simply a ridiculously insufficient amount of money to pay for proper legal defense in a rape case This firm would earn higher payment from the state were we to have been appointed to represent the client in that case, so why would we ever agree to take less Shortly after this office was retained, we were informed by the complaining party that despite our agreement, absolutely no more funds would be forthcoming In fact, when it was suggested to the complaining party that it might be in the client's best interest to hire a private investigator, we were told that the cost for that should be taken out of the $5,paid for legal fees To my knowledge, no attorney as ever agreed to such a ludicrous suggestion As attorneys of record, we were obligated to continue representing the client despite the fact that our original fee agreement would not be met by the complaining party, so we did With only limited resources, the attorneys at this office devoted the time and effort to the case that it required The complaining party refused to pay for any further representation, but had no issue making further demands on this office One such demand was for us to submit a motion to reduce the defendant's bond This office did not expect the judge would grant such a motion Furthermore, even were to the judge to authorize a 50% reduction in bond, if the complaining party could not afford additional legal fees, how would it have been possible for her to afford a half million dollar bond This office made the decision not to waste resources on such a fruitless endeavor It was this decision in great part which caused the complaining party to terminate the services of this firm We were happy to comply with the request Further contention arose, however, when the complaining party demanded that we return $4,of what was paid This office spent a great deal of time on the case for which we were hired We more than exhausted the resources we were provided and are confident that we earned every cent paid to us and more As stated, however, we were still willing to remit to the complaining party $3,of the $5,paid so that all parties could part ways amicably Before the complaining party could pick up the check and sign the release, however, she submitted this complaint to the Revdex.com The reason this office was willing to refund some of her money was due to nothing other than goodwill, as we no doubt earned every dime paid to us Having destroyed any possibility of parting ways amicably as a result of this compliant, this office no longer felt any reason to remain charitable and are no longer willing to offer any refund whatsoever This decision was made in part due to the fact that the complaining party and her family engaged in a pattern of harassment towards this office during this office's withdrawal of the case During one particularly heated discussion, the complaining party's son, on a recorded conversation, threatened to make it so that no one would ever practice law again, and included the judge on the client's case in his lengthy rant Additionally, a statement was made indicating that this person knows people that bury bodies for $10,and we were paid $5, This was considered a thinly veiled threat by this office and immediately disclosed to the appropriate prosecutor, who also happened to be the prosecutors on the case at issue They immediately informed [redacted] Police, who are very interested in the recording, as what was said about the judge could be construed as retaliation against the court having jurisdiction over the case for which we were retained This office was also instructed to make a report with [redacted] Police regarding the harassment and threat of bodily harm This office is not interested in using up any more time or resources on this case or the subsequent fee dispute As such, the recording has not yet been disclosed to [redacted] Police, and no report has been filed with the City of [redacted] Should such groundless complaints persist, however, this office will likely have no choice other than to follow the direction of the prosecutor's office and allow the arrests to fall where they may

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below Regards, [redacted] My response to the complaint is as follows: First of all, I would like to make clear, I completely understand exactly how representation works seeing as to how I have family members who work in the profession and have taken time to explain to me the processWith that being said, why would I "EVER" agree to an open-ended case that can reach fees of up to $15,The only thing stated was "he'd take the case for a fee of $5,000"no hourly pay, travelling expenses or filing fees were ever mentioned/discussed [redacted] placed a "sense of urgency" by stating "we should meet as soon as possible to retain the fee so his office could begin to work on the case immediately, time is crucial in cases like these"We decided to meet the next day where he retained the fee of $5,000, with no receipt booklet or contractRemembering what my family member told me a "red flag" went up so I asked "shouldn't there be a contract or written agreement" after noticing he was writing out the receipt for $5,cash on a piece of blank paper [redacted] stated that "he was actually coming from court on another case in the area and didn't have time to grab the contract or receipt booklet but will have it sent via regmail upon his return to the office"Needless to say, I never received it! Question is or what we really need to be asking here is "why would an "ATTORNEY" come to an agreement with a client for such costs/fees without some sort of contract or written agreement? You would think "ATTORNEYS" of all would know better unless their intention weren't legitimate from the beginning! Secondly, I would like to make it clear that "Henderson & Weatherly" were only on the case for all of a month (1-8-to 2-6-15) [redacted] appeared in court with the accused one time (1-9-15) in which he tricked him into "accepting conditions of the bond" with a "Waiver of Right to be present at all hearing proceedings"A total of motions were filed [redacted] stated in this report that he "visited the client multiple times", when he actually visited only once and we would like to use the county jails cameras to prove that this is in fact a lie and further support my claim of "misrepresentation" by these attorney's Lastly, I would like to add the fact that a family member has in his possession a "body camera" which he uses to record correspondence with "ALL" , "official" dealings with public officialsHe has chosen to do this for his safety because of prior dealings with public officials who have made allegations of threats & harm against them by him because he catches them and calls them out on their " [redacted] " & liesWell good thing he decided to record the correspondence between himself and these attorneysThe accusations reported by [redacted] of "threats and bodily harm" are and will be readily contested in any court with this evidence, followed by a counter-suit of courseHe has this material available for use upon requesttrust me he is waiting I would also like to include the fact that I also have recorded conversations with [redacted] and a " [redacted] " from the office stating on Monday & Tuesday (Feb16th & 17th) that they have a check for $3,and the evidence file waiting at the front desk for pick-upUnfortunately, because of the weather, I wasn't able to make it out there until Thursday, Jan19, I arrived at the office on Lorain Rdand asked [redacted] for the remaining balance of the retainer fee and the evidence file I had given him, it was supposed to be at the front desk [redacted] proceeded to invite me into office and ask that we talk for a secondI stated that I "needed to go cause I have a family member waiting in the car" which I did but I really didn't feel comfortable talking to him anyway, he was notably upset [redacted] then stood up rapidly and stated he needed me to sign some form and I that I would drop my complaint from the Revdex.comI stated "I'm just here to piwhat was promised over the phone, I'm not signing nothing"! [redacted] then stopped in his tracks, turned around and stated "then I'm not giving you nothing"I then proceeded to my vehicle after learning my trip was for nothing and returned to [redacted] My son then called to find out why he would do such a thing (have me come out for nothing) and [redacted] responded that she wasn't cooperatingMy son [redacted] stated that he has one more chance to correct this by coming out to [redacted] with the check & evidence or they would proceed to take the proper steps, through whatever government office/agency that needed to in order for them not to be able to do this to anyone else again, no threats of harm were madeHe also stated they would have to come to [redacted] now, no more trips to Cleveland for nothingno one ever asked them to come to my residencywe always meet in a public setting with camerasThis is also recorded and available if needed to support my complaintI also have witnesses to the fact that I returned to my vehicle from their office with no check, evidence or anything after being told to come pick it up The services for Henderson & Weatherly were terminated on Friday, Feb6, Anything filed there after, I feel I am not responsible forThe accused has a hearing scheduled for March 2, and I am in strong belief that this is some sort delay tactic to stop me from obtaining other counselThey were notified of the termination of services through text message & voice message on all available numbers on February 6, so if they were trying to part "amicably" why do we have yet to receive a check & the evidencealso the court has yet to be notified that you are no longer the attorneys on the casetoday's date is February 23, Again, I would like all materials turned over to me along with the check for the remaining balance, Henderson & Weatherly are absolutely not to have any contact with the new attorneys what-so-everThank You