Lawyers Evil or Saints?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Seabear70:
If you read the article carefully, it is easy to see that the woman in question originally lost her home due to legal fees that she would have had to sue to get recinded.
Click to expand...


ah... no she didn't. she lost her house because she
didn't hire a lawyer to defend her case in time, which is
often the case.

essentially the Association filed suit and got a default
because she didn't answer. That's what it sounds like to me.
in her defense, she is elderly and probably didn't understand
what the papers meant or what was going on.

maybe i can see what your problem is here... :eyebrow:
 
H2Andy:
if she had come to me TIMELY, i would have solved all her problems for about $750.00 (that's three hours of work at my old rate)

and she wouldn't have lost her home

if she had come to me AFTER her deadline (which looks
to be what happened here), then it would have cost
something like $5,000. i still would have won.

sounds like she waited until it was too late to respond,
and then had to pay out the wazoo for a lawyer to fix her mistake after she defaulted.

by the way, did you notice it was a dreaded lawyer who got
her the house back?

i'm not sure what your point with this story was, though...

so i'll ask: what was your point in posting this story?
Click to expand...

Ok, the point is that she had evidence that she paid the bill, and had tried to present it to the association. (though that is not mentioned in the story, they were going for an entirely different angle) Why should she have to pay anyone to resolve the matter?

I lived in Houston for quite a while. This is hardly uncommon.

And, yes I did notice it was a lawyer who got her house back for her... I hope he didn't gouge her in the settlement. :11ztongue
 
Seabear70:
Ok, the point is that she had evidence that she paid the bill, and had tried to present it to the association. (though that is not mentioned in the story, they were going for an entirely different angle) Why should she have to pay anyone to resolve the matter?
Click to expand...


well, because i would pay a doctor to operate on me when
my appendix needs taken out.

and i would pay a plumber to fix my plumbing if it looks like
it's gonna bust.

and i would pay a dentist to take care of my teeth.

and if my home were at stake, i'd spend a couple thousand
dollars paying an attorney to take care of the problem for me.

OR i could do it myself and take the chance of not getting it
right.
 
H2Andy:
ah... no she didn't. she lost her house because she
didn't hire a lawyer to defend her case in time, which is
often the case.

essentially the Association filed suit and got a default
because she didn't answer. That's what it sounds like to me.
in her defense, she is elderly and probably didn't understand
what the papers meant or what was going on.

maybe i can see what your problem is here... :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

"Some lawyers charge $100 for the initial "demand letter" -- typically a form letter, Kahne said. They add another $250 when they file a lien against the property, he said, and charge an additional $350 when they send a letter to the mortgage company."

Add it up...

The remainder is not outragous for a water bill in Houston.
 
Seabear70:
And, yes I did notice it was a lawyer who got her house back for her... I hope he didn't gouge her in the settlement. :11ztongue
Click to expand...

lol

her lawyer was a "she"

http://www.marianrosen.com/index.html

also, she got a $300,000 settlement out of the deal... sounds
like she had a good lawyer :wink:
 
H2Andy:
well, because i would pay a doctor to operate on me when
my appendix needs taken out.

and i would pay a plumber to fix my plumbing if it looks like
it's gonna bust.

and i would pay a dentist to take care of my teeth.

and if my home were at stake, i'd spend a couple thousand
dollars paying an attorney to take care of the problem for me.

OR i could do it myself and take the chance of not getting it
right.
Click to expand...

So, let me see if I understand you...

If Wendy's overcharges me, I should contact a lawyer immediately to have them handle a burger joint???

THIS IS THE PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!​
There is no logical reason why I should have to pay several thousand dolars to get a business to acknoledge that they screwed up. It is only through the actions of lawyers that some americans do not feel safe using a public toilet without calling in and checking with their lawyer first.

I realize that y'all se yer selves as the glue that holds democracy together, but excessive litigation is tearing the country apart.
 
Seabear70:
"Some lawyers charge $100 for the initial "demand letter" -- typically a form letter, Kahne said. They add another $250 when they file a lien against the property, he said, and charge an additional $350 when they send a letter to the mortgage company."
Click to expand...


yes, "some" is the key word. btw, as a defendant, she wouldn't
have had to file a lien against the property or send a letter to
the mortgage company. so this guy is talking about costs
BY THE ASSOCIATION, not her.

as to the costs, again, what's your point? have you been to a doctor lately? taken yoru
car to a garage? had a plumber work on your house?

professionals charge for their services. if you don't like the price, go to a cheaper one. you get what you pay for.
 
Seabear70:
Umm...

Any idea what the lawyer's cut was???

Let's hope she didn't get gouged.
Click to expand...

i would guess in the vecinity of 30-35 percent, if it
was on a contingecy basis, or at an hourly rate
of about $350 (given the lawyers experience).

the client ended up with about $200,000 she didn't have before.
i'd be happy with that result.
 
Here's the thing, Litigation has become far too rampant.

Consider the "Good Samaritan" Laws. Why do we need them? If a person tries to help you, why would you sue them? If a person is doing what any good person would try to do, why should they fear the consequences? Why on earth would we need legislation to state this? This is insane.

Now, as for the woman having her home taken away, what if she was out of town for a couple of weeks visiting her grandchildren? The lawyer sends the first letter, no one responds. So he sends the second and so on. I am not saying that this is what happened, I am saying that this has probably happened. And for you information, that case was pretty well covered in the houston area, the legal fees were the vast majority of what was owed.

Now, if I am on a dive boat and someone comes up hurt or sick, will I give them O2, but I will have to wonder, am I going to regret doing it? Everything I've seen says there is a very good chance that I will, and that there is nothing that can stop the person I try to help, other than their own morality, from costing me thousands of dollars to prove that I was just trying to help.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom