Question by Lisa: Bankruptcy lawyer charging me for their mistake.?
I filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, 2 months after the bankruptcy was discharged, I received a call from a repo company saying my car was being repossessed because the reaffirmation agreement wasn’t filed. Come to find out my lawyers office misplaced the paperwork. The bankruptcy was petitioned to be opened again so the paperwork can be filed correctly. My lawyer is now charging me $ 260.00 for reopening the case. Are they legally allowed to do this?
Best answer:
Answer by Ted
Sure. They charge for their time, not results. A criminal defense attorney gets paid even if his client loses and goes to jail, regardless of whether the client really did it or whether the attorney did a poor job. It’s good to be the lawyer.
They may be looking at it as their bill should have been higher because the reaffirmation agreement costs time to process, so you’re not really getting charged extra.
I have also had the experience that the low level lawyer working on my case fixing an error logged his time (as he should) but somehow it the people who do the billing overlooked the note that this wasn’t billable time. It was taken off the bill when I called to complain. I sometimes suspect that they bill everything, including unbillable hours, and if the client doesn’t notice, it’s free money. That’s why lawyers are so rich.
What do you think? Answer below!
