Johann Hall

I represented this client briefly on his claim for bodily injury related to a vehicle collision.? It became clear that I could not represent him after he demanded I hire an expert before we had submitted a demand to the carrier.? When I told him that I would not, and that the decision to employ experts was mine to make and not his, he began to question my efficacy as an attorney.? When he persisted to question my legal representation I let him go as a client.? At that time I told him that I would resolve my claim of lien for only my out-of-pocket expenses (about $290) but that he needed to make that payment immediately or the offer to settle my lien claim would be off of the table.? He ignored my offer and I advised the third party carrier that I no longer represented the client and that I had a lien claim on future settlement.? He initially challenged my lien and I pointed out to him the paragraph in the fee agreement that specifically gave me lien protection.? I didn't from him for months until finally he was prepared to settle with the third party carrier and he learned that they were protecting my lien interest.? At that point he contacted me again and demanded that I give him a dollar amount that I was claiming.? I told him that my lien claim was dependent on what the overall settlement figure was, but I estimated my hours and again made an offer to settle my lien claim, this time for $2,000.00.? when I extended the offer I made it clear to him that this was an offer to compromise my lien claim and that I felt it had significantly more value.? Based on my offer to compromise he advised the third party carrier that I had agreed that my lien claim was "not to exceed" $2,000.00, which was not true.? The carrier never contacted me before they disbursed the settlement proceeds.? ? I have since learned that the third party had a $15K policy and MrYarish was paid the full amount of the policy in settlement.? The carrier held a check (and is still holding a check) for $2,to cover what they determined to be my lien interest.? They will not release the check because MrYarish continues to dispute my interest.? ? The client has made it clear that he would like to see me get nothing.? I have attempted to engage him in meaningful discussions in an attempt to settle our fee dispute but he refuses to be reasonable.? I will not accept $to resolve my lien claim.? If I felt that the client was capable of acting reasonably I might try to settle my claim for less than $2,but history has taught me that this client is not reasonable.? ?

After I initially met with the client I told him that I anticipated he was going to have an issue proving causality considering the accident and the injuries he was claiming. Based on my concerns in that regard I rejected his case at first instance. Because I did want to help him at the time, I instructed him to gather his medical records and I would be willing to review them and reconsider taking his claim. Approximately one month later he again contacted me and asked if I might reconsider, he had not collected any medical records as I had instructed. Despite a lack of medical records for my review he talked me into representing him, in part by stating that his medical records would dispel my causation concerns. I told him quite clearly before he signed the fee agreement that I was going to collect his medical records and review them to get an idea of the strength of his claim but that I may advise him after I reviewed his records that it would be too difficult to prove his injuries resulted from the motor vehicle accident. Despite this advisement the client wanted me to represent him
Once I gathered the records, which were voluminous, and had a chance to review them it was clear to me that the client’s claims were going to be plagued with causality issues. His doctors did not attribute his injuries to the accident, as he had informed me. Nonetheless I told the client that I would draft and issue a demand on his behalf. I never refused to discuss the issues of his case, as he alleges, and I have outlined my time into the case for him already. This was a contingency fee agreement and so I was not keeping track of my time, however, the file that I turned over to the client when the attorney-client relationship was terminated speaks for itself.
It took longer than expected to draft the demand letter on behalf of the client. This is attributable to the fact that I was using a contract paralegal at the time who had another full-time job and she had to review approximately pages of medical records before drafting the demand. This is what caused the attorney-client relationship to deteriorate. Once it began to deteriorate I quickly determined based on a series of communications with the client that I was going to be unable to assist him any further. I told him as much in a letter terminating the attorney client relationship and providing his complete file to him
I believe the client is confused about what constitutes a third-party settlement. I do not believe that he would dispute collecting the policy limit ($15,000) from the at fault driver. He likely has a UIM claim pending with his carrier. I wish I could say I was hopeful that the client and I could settle our dispute but I don’t believe we will be able to

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: MrHall has his own version of the facts which do not correspond with mine I am claiming that he misrepresented his ability to pursue the claimAfter a year of temporizing and meaningless correspondence he accomplished exactly nothing This was apparent as I pursued the case on my own behalf MrHall added no value to the success of the case and wasted a year of my time He withdrew after encouraging me to fire him after I questioned missed deadlines and performanceI did not pay his settlement offer because I did not see that there was any possibility of an award without competent representation I talked to several attorneys, all of whom said they would not accept a case of this nature due to difficulty of proving causality, difficulty of getting a favorable jury award, high costs and limited returns owing to the limits of the insured's policyIt was clear that I had two choices: drop the case altogether or represent myselfMrHall's main contribution was to needlessly delay filing the suit and forcing an inevitable full settlement of the lawsuit I filed I had found expert witnesses that made this relatively easy on my own This raises the question of why did MrHall accept the case in the first placeWhat unique insight into law did he have that was not shared with many other attorneys?
MrHall again is wrong when he states the third party insurance settlement There is none.
MrHall has committed other lapses that call into question his competence at PI litigation
Moreover, MrHall negated the terms of the contract with bad faith performance and failure to vest significant effort in the caseIndeed, he is entitled to nothing
MrHall has repeatedly refused to discuss the issues with me and has repeatedly refused to provide a detailed itemization of his time I assume there is nothing to itemize
Sincerely,Thomas***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: I may agree with a few of MrHall's statements if seen in context, but there is a very different narrative from my sideWhere he gets his information relative to the policy limits, claims, settlements is a mystery to me Completely wrong
I maintain the points in my previous commentaryI had to take a crash course in litigation and procedure, evidence, discovery, collision-related whiplash and expert witnesses, all of which revealed lapses in MrHall's performance
In short, had he adequately counseled me in advance, as other attorney's did, it would have been clear that Medicare liens and attorney's fees would have consumed any settlement, thus rendering the litigation pointless
The records he acquired at his expense were largely irrelevant to key points in the litigation settlement The issue was ripe for litigation by May of after the surgeryWhere was MrHall? After he fired himself late in I attempted to find another attorneySome politely declined, many refused to answer phone calls when they learned the details
I was left no choice but to file the suit on my ownWouldn't recommend it without previous experience or help from a competent trial attorney, which I had MrHall's service was completely irrelevant to the successful prosecution of the suit
I see no point in continuing this discussion without an objective third party, likely someone outside the local law community
Sincerely,Thomas ***

I represented this client briefly on his claim for bodily injury related to a vehicle collision.? It became clear that I could not represent him after he demanded I hire an expert before we had submitted a demand to the carrier.? When I told him that I would not, and that the decision to
employ experts was mine to make and not his, he began to question my efficacy as an attorney.? When he persisted to question my legal representation I let him go as a client.? At that time I told him that I would resolve my claim of lien for only my out-of-pocket expenses (about $290) but that he needed to make that payment immediately or the offer to settle my lien claim would be off of the table.? He ignored my offer and I advised the third party carrier that I no longer represented the client and that I had a lien claim on future settlement.? He initially challenged my lien and I pointed out to him the paragraph in the fee agreement that specifically gave me lien protection.? I didn't from him for months until finally he was prepared to settle with the third party carrier and he learned that they were protecting my lien interest.? At that point he contacted me again and demanded that I give him a dollar amount that I was claiming.? I told him that my lien claim was dependent on what the overall settlement figure was, but I estimated my hours and again made an offer to settle my lien claim, this time for $2,000.00.? when I extended the offer I made it clear to him that this was an offer to compromise my lien claim and that I felt it had significantly more value.? Based on my offer to compromise he advised the third party carrier that I had agreed that my lien claim was "not to exceed" $2,000.00, which was not true.? The carrier never contacted me before they disbursed the settlement proceeds.? ?
I have since learned that the third party had a $15K policy and MrYarish was paid the full amount of the policy in settlement.? The carrier held a check (and is still holding a check) for $2,to cover what they determined to be my lien interest.? They will not release the check because MrYarish continues to dispute my interest.? ?
The client has made it clear that he would like to see me get nothing.? I have attempted to engage him in meaningful discussions in an attempt to settle our fee dispute but he refuses to be reasonable.? I will not accept $to resolve my lien claim.? If I felt that the client was capable of acting reasonably I might try to settle my claim for less than $2,but history has taught me that this client is not reasonable.? ?