Attorney Didn't file in time.....

[copper2]

Late File

I'm so sorry to hear about your bad luck with your attorney. I wish I would've done mine on my own! My paralegal took eight weeks to get my paperwork completed. After finally getting it done, I'm now informed by the court that an entire Schedule is missing and my case could be dismissed entirely! I called her, (not home), and had to find it online, fill it out and FedX it in. Wish me luck....

[Elissa]

I just thought I would update you on what happened in my situation.

I finally got ahold of my attorney. Apparently, while he was in Florida on vacation with his family ( the week before the new law went into affect), he had a massive heart attack. They of course made him stay in the hospital until recovered, then had to be cleared to fly back to Wisconsin. So, that is why my petition was never filed on time.

He was very nice about the whole thing, and apologized numerous times. He spoke to me about filing under the news laws, and because I have a very easy case, with not alot of debt compared to alot of people, the new law shouldn't be harder to undertake then the old law. I have to do credit counseling, but he said I could do this online. He also said he would not be charging me his new fees as I paid for a service I didn't get. So, that's a good thing too.

All I can do is hope and pray things go alot more smoothly then they have, and no more problems arise.

Thank you all for your thoughts again, I really appreciate all you had to say! Good luck to all of you as well!

[FloridaGirl]

^^^I really hope your attorney wouldn't lie about this, but I can't help but wonder if he made up the whole heart attack story just to get out of the hot seat. The question still begs to be answered....what the hell was he doing going on vacation the week before the new laws went into affect when he still had cases which had to be filed under the old laws? Also, if he knew he was going on vacation right before new laws went into affect, and he knew he had cases to file under the old laws, why the hell didn't he have a back-up plan of action in the event something happened while he was on vacation? Things happen, obviously, and I can't imagine he wouldn't have had a paralegal, or another competent person in his office handling things for him in his absence.

Look, I'm glad he is being nice about the whole thing, but it still sounds so fishy to me. It sounds like he decided to take a few extra days of vacation without giving a thought to his clients who were expecting to be filed under the old laws. It sounds like he made up a quick story to smooth things over, and honestly, heart attack or not, your case still should have been handled properly if this man was at all competent. Does he not have a paralegal, or a legal secretary who could have dealt with things? Papers could have been Fed-Ex'ed to his hospital room if he needed to sign, could they not have?

I'm sorry if he had a heart attack, but in this case, that just is not an excuse. In my opinion, your attorney leaving town when he did, with no one else handling your case, is the exact equivalent of a heart surgeon leaving town the day before a bypass, with no other doctor on call for his patient. Utterly negligent. Now it is you who is going to suffer by having to do credit counseling and possibly having to file a ch.13.

Ugh....I know you can't change things, but this really makes me mad.