Attorney Withdrawing With Short Notice

**windblown** · 04-06-2011, 03:19 PM

My question involves malpractice by a lawyer in the state of: Alabama

I received a letter in the mail today from the attorney who is representing me in an auto accident case and the attorney stated he would be putting the paperwork in to withdraw as my attorney. He suggested I find another attorney and put paperwork in with the court for a substitution, he said it would be easier for him this way. The only problem is the statute of limitations runs out on my case runs out this Friday. What happens if I cannot find another attorney to substitute and the attorney that is representing me now fails to file my case with the courts before the statue of limitations runs out? Thanks.

**KeyWestDan** · 04-07-2011, 08:48 PM

Be a quick study, write your own complaint and make sure it gets filed before the statute of limitations expires. Worse case, it gets dismissed without prejudice and you or a new attorney gets to file a new one that is properly done. You do have to properly state the claims and other things to survive a serious challenge.

If nothing is filed, the statute runs out. No excuse is going to change it. There is nothing you can do to overcome the SOL no matter how much you whine. I would file a complaint with the bar, unless the attorney told you that he was withdrawing because your case did not have merit, there was a legal reason you could not collect a judgment, or he had some other legal basis for dropping you right before the SOL had run. An attorney can not bring a case that does not have merit. If he figured that the case would cost more to win than he could collect in fees, that would be a reason to withdraw though the bar would look at it as he waited until the SOL expired and any reasonable person would know you would be hard pressed to find another attorney in under a week, much less allow the attorney to look at the case adequately and file a proper complaint.

PS: On reading your post again, I just realized something here is not right. IF the case is not filed, why would there be any paperwork to file? FILE WHERE? If there is no on-going filed case, why would any court care if he withdraws? There would be no paperwork to file. There would be no substitution of attorney paperwork or anything else. No court gives a crap unless there is already a case in controversy before the court. Either something is wrong here or you have no clue what you are talking about.

**Mr. Knowitall** · 04-07-2011, 09:27 PM

What do you mean by "putting the paperwork in to withdraw as my attorney"? Putting it in where? If no case has been filed, there shouldn't be any need to file a motion with the court.

If you are having trouble finding a firm that can take over your case you can spend some time in a law library learning how to draft, file and serve your own complaint, or you can ask your current lawyer to help you out with a referral, or by filing a complaint or preparing something for you to file in advance of the deadline, such that your claim doesn't expire while you're seeking a new lawyer.

**windblown** · 04-08-2011, 01:24 PM

[QUOTE=Mr. Knowitall;509378]What do you mean by "putting the paperwork in to withdraw as my attorney"? Putting it in where? If no case has been filed, there shouldn't be any need to file a motion with the court.

Thank you Mr. Knowitall for getting back to me. I apologize, I should not try and use a legal term if I do not understand what it means.

The current attorney I have has filed a complaint, but said he will not be serving the defendant and said it will be my responsibility to serve the defendant. I called the Court today to find out when the defendant needs to be served and they informed me it was next Friday not this Friday as I stated in my first post. The Court said if the defendant was not served by next Friday that I would be barred from seeking damages due to the Statute of Limitations running out. What if the attorney I have now fails to serve the defendant and is still on record with the Court as representing me?

**Mr. Knowitall** · 04-08-2011, 01:54 PM

It sounds like the lawyer has come to the conclusion that your case lacks legal merit and, although filing a lawsuit to partially insulate you from the statute of limitations, does not want to be responsible for serving on the defendant a complaint he believes lacks merit. You can ask your lawyer if he can recommend a process server, or check the phone book or other resources to locate a local process server, and have the summons and complaint served upon the defendant. Try to get a second (and even a third) opinion on your case, ASAP, to help you decide if and how to proceed.

**DaveJames** · 05-01-2011, 04:32 AM

I have a feeling your attorney thinks the case is not worth the money to actually take to court. It may have merit, but the pay off is not sufficient for him to take to the jury or worth his time.

How much are your losses ? Could you hurry up and file with small claims court ?

A lot of time lawyers draw you in thinking you will rack up ogles of hospital bills and they have dollar signs in their eyes, only to see them wilt away when they feel the case is not going to bring them the big bucks at the end. The attorney may send the insurance company a letter or two and when the insurance company call the lawyers bluff, the lawyer puts his tail between his legs and whimpers away.

You need to act fast and I feel bad you got hosed by an attorney like this. Had the case no merit, I believe that should have been confirmed way before the statutes were about to run out.