Lawyer put my settlement into his personal account and won't answer the phone, what is my legal recourse?
Question Details:My personal injury lawyer is holding my medical bill monies in his personal account and refusing to release them to me. I no longer wish him to represent me and would like to take care of my bills personally. Neither the lawyer or myself have any liens regarding this case. I am concerned as to his mental faculties, as last time I was in his office he was waving a gun around. Basically I want the money and nothing else to do with him. What do I do?
You need to immediately do the following:
1. Contact the state bar in California and file a complaint against him and request monies back (including any fees he has already charged and collected from you, in addition to those in the supposed escrow account). He has an absolute duty not to commingle accounts and he violated it by placing your funds in his own account.
Here is the link to the complaint site of the California Bar. http://calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10179&id=1144
2. Request or file with the California Bar to refund you the monies (there is a special client recovery fund available). They will then seek it from the lawyer if things are as you say they are.
3. Consider perhaps contacting the police about this gentleman -- he may be a danger to others by waiving that gun around and he may not have a license to carry concealed.
4. You can also check his disciplinary record at www.calbar.ca.gov under attorney search to see if he has a disciplinary history.
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