I was recently threatened with a lawsuit (under DTPA) regarding an inspection I performed in 2024. This necessitated retaining an attorney to address their letter of intent. The deadline to respond to their letter has passed (Mar.21) and I have yet to hear if they actually filed suit. At this point we are assuming this is a dead issue since their claims were ridiculous. However; because of their frivolous threat, I am out of the retainer fee. Has this happened to anyone else on this forum? Were you able to get relief for your expense? And if so, how? Thanks in advance!
I don’t believe you get $ back that you choose to spend on an attorney.
Would you prefer to still be in litigation?
The only winners in a lawsuit are the lawyers, n’est pas?.
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Why did you retain an Attorney instead of turning this over to your E&O carrier? Have you turned this over to your E&O carrier yet?
In the scheme of lawsuits March 21 to April 9 is not much time to have lapsed. They can still be in the process of filing or have already filed and you have not yet been served. If you go to your County site, and the one the home is in, many counties will allow you to search the court records including newly files lawsuits.
I would highly advise you to contact your E&O provider as not contacting them can result in their refusal to pay out or provide any defense if this were to go bad on you.
As Larry stated most likely you can not obtain recompense for your Attorney fees. At this time you have no lawsuit against them and none known yet against you.
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You are unlikely to recoup attorney fees unless it’s in your contract and you file suit, etc. against them. But your attorney should refund any unused portion of the retainer to you. Not sure if you just mixed up a retainer and actual fees in your OP.
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This sums up everything that I am thinking.
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My bad…should have been more clear. As soon as I received their demand letter, I contacted my insurance agent and they contacted the insurer which immediately turned it over to their legal department. My deductible went towards their retainer. This most likely will increase my premiums since this was actually handled as a claim. It is doubtful that they will actually carry it through since it has no merit. I didn’t deviate from any TREC SOPs. Under the DTPA, I would have had to have known information and purposefully withheld reporting it. I’m wondering if I could sue in small claims.
I am confused. Your E&O provider didn’t provide you with a lawyer? They made you pay your deductible towards retaining your own?
When I went through a frivolous claim a few years ago, I was speaking to the lawyer they provided a half hour after I made the claim with my agent. She then called me every couple of weeks check in and to let me know how things were going. Three months later the claim was denied. She then redid my PIA. My premiums never went up and I did not have to pay a deductible.
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You may want to check out (If you become a member.):
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I’m still curious… a retainer is just a deposit for future services. They owe you an accounting of the services they provided and the costs. As long as it didn’t go past your deductible you are due any excess back. Have you received an actual accounting of what the attorney did, how many hours, etc.?
I received an itemized schedule of charges & they were in excess of my deductible. I believe they were in sue everybody mode hoping for a money grab; the seller for not disclosing a latent water system configuration; the buyers agent and me (or my insurance policy). There should be laws against this. I just want my money back, not to mention my premiums are gonna get dinged.
Legalized extortion as we like to call it. Even my lawyer agrees.
Your lawyer will bill by the hour. So even though you paid a retainer, nothing is going to come out of it unless you actually communicate with them. No lawyer has a problem billing. So, text messages, email, phone calls, etc are all going to cost you money. So if you have communicated with your lawyer at all, there will be some billing from your retainer. Otherwise, it will just sit there until you start using. Your firm will send it back if you aren’t going to need it.
As far as the issue goes, I wouldn’t expect that it is dead. If you haven’t heard from them. It takes them a fair amount of time to put all their ducks in a row in order to go after you. In my state, you have to go to mediation before you go to trial. Which means a hundred percent of the time, you will be writing a check to get out of the room. It’s just a matter of how much that’s going to be. Anybody can file a lawsuit for anything and they generally pump it up so that they can negotiate enough to cover an amount that makes them happy. I once had a 3-year-old roof thrown into a situation about floors that weren’t level (there is no standard for level floors). On paper, I should have kicked the crap out of them, given what they presented. I still had to write a check to get out of the room and had my attorneys fees.
This is exactly why you should never write a damage only report. Your reports should be as detailed as possible, with as many photos as possible, with as many code references as you can possibly do. I know, many states don’t allow this, but you should get awfully close to the line with it, if you can in order to protect yourself. No one else will be in that room with you except your lawyer. There won’t be any realtors around or anybody else to help you. So protect yourself. Detail and photos. Every condition gets in the report, even if it’s superficial.
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