Hey, Laura... Hoping all is well.
We had one of these in Morris County a few years ago. Client was a whacky guy, who filed a multi-count frivolous counterclaim. I had another lawyer from my firm question me. Apart from going through the fee arb notice and proof of mailing, the retainer agreement and the individual invoices, I also made certain that the judge understood fully ho interest had been accruing, and entered a general ledger for that client, which was quite useful for that purpose. I used the rules that obtain to the form of an Affidavit of Services, to make sure that I touched on all the relevant fee factors. For this particular client, when we called him as well on direct as on cross, we highlighted the facts that he never complained about any of the work we did, that we succeeded in our motion practice and in settling his case on terms that were quite favorable to him, even by his measure. Using the Statements of Client Rights and Responsibilities can also b helpful during examination.
Be prepared, however, to be diverted to mediation and to likely wait over a period of days to be heard, and perhaps being passed from judge to judge over a period of days. At one point, after all this waiting, the judge spent about five minute trying to convince this client to elect fee arbitration, even though the time for doing so had come and gone. The trial itself was quite lengthy - relatively speaking - an entire day affair, once it finally got underway with the trial judge, who was quit good. We put on the direct examination of me, his cross of me, redirect of me, sequence repeated with our direct as if on cross of him. Then, he put on his case. He had a hand cart of files. He addressed the judge directly, who asked a few of his own questions from time to time, and permitted our cross of the client.
The Judge deliberated, did a bunch of calculations of his own, and had some questions about some of the math and interest calculations on our invoices, which explanations he was ultimately satisfied with. We use PC Law and, when people don't pay their bills when they are due, the invoices are not as clear as they would otherwise be (confusing, in some cases). The outcome was that the judge found every single charge to be appropriate and owning, and also that our interest rate was appropriate and calculated properly.
He ordered every last cent, of which we've seen zero so far, and this was years ago. A very time consuming and singularly unrewarding experience. There was also the entertaining element of being told at the conclusion of one day that there may or may not be a continuation on the next day at whatever time and that we would only be given an hour to react and be there after telephone notification. Good luck and best wishes.
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Curtis Romanowski Esq.
Senior Attorney - Proprietor
Brielle NJ
(732)603-8585
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-16-2013 02:52
From: Laura Lipp
Subject: Trial for Fee Collection in Special Civil Part
This message has been cross posted to the following Discussions: Solo and Small Firm and Family Law .
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Hello everyone,
Next week, I am appearing in the Special Civil Part for a trial date on a fee collection matter against my former client. I am prepping for it now, but because I have never done this before, I have a question about what to expect regarding the format of the trial. My expectation is that the client will try to take the focus off the undisputed facts about his fees, and instead try to question the quality of my services. (As a side note, I have absolutely no concern about that in this case, as my firm did an excellent job for him and he was very happy with our services until the time came to pay the bill).
Should my partner and I be prepared to testify about our actual services and communications with him throughout the case? Or is the hearing strictly going to focus on the retainer agreement, the receipt of his bills, etc.? If we do have to testify about the substance of our services, do we literally take a direct examination of each other or should we expect a more "open" format lead by the court. Does our client have the ability to cross examine us?
My partner and I are both attending because we substantively worked on the case at separate times.
Any input would be very much appreciated.
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Laura Ruvolo Lipp, Esq.
Ruvolo Law Group, LLC
55 Madison Ave., Suite 360
Morristown, NJ
(973)993-9960
[email protected]
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