SOMEONE TELL ME WHERE GUYS GET THAT MONEY TREE BECAUSE I WANT ONE TOO!

I was recently taking a look at a Memorandum of Decision dated October 8, 2013 in the case FA10-40222992S Shawn Tittle v. Susan Skipp-Tittle.  On page 3 of this Memorandum the judge states that the plaintiff, Shawn Tittle owes his counsel over $183,000. 

 

One hundred and eighty three thous....Say, what?  This guy has run up a six digit figure of attorney's fees that he owes to his attorney!  How did he do that? 

 

I'll tell you right now, a few months ago I owed $3,000 or so to an attorney in a small case that I had in probate court and when I didn't pay that immediately, and I mean, immediately, he dropped me like a hot potato.  He wasn't running up any six digit bill. 

 

You pay or you are out, do not pass go, and certainly do not collect $200. 

 

So, how do these guys do it, that's what I want to know?  How do they persuade perfectly sane attorneys who will not work a dime over their retainers when it comes to litigants such as ourselves who are abused, but will nonetheless, allow abusers to run up massive attorney's fees seemingly without hesitation. 

 

I'll tell you what my first reaction is--the bills are totally fake!  You don't believe an attorney would fake his or her bills?  Why not?  $183,000 represents at least a year or more of work.  If it were you, would you honestly work for that long without getting paid?  Can you imagine your average attorney working that long without being paid?  I don't see it. 

 

Why is it that attorneys can always seem to smell way before a case is even underway who will win and who will lose.  Is it because they already have an agreement set up in advance?  So when it comes to the losing side, the attorney there will never extend credit, while the winning side receives endless credit. 

 

I'll tell you right now, if Susan wanted to hire an attorney tomorrow, she would have to provide the retainer up front.  No Mr. Nice Guy on the part of any attorney, I can assure you! 

 

In my situation, with my first attorney, as soon as the money was gone, he wrote me a letter and he told me immediately if you don't give me a second retainer, I will not be providing any further services.  With another attorney I had, I'd given him $25,000 as an initial retainer, which ran out in six weeks.  I came in for a conference with him about the progress of the case and right away, right up front he says, "Unless I get another $25,000 retainer, this meeting is over." 

 

Way to tell it like it is! 

 

So, bottom line is there was no running up the bill to six figures--not for loser me, at least.  That's why I am another one of those miserable self represented parties like Susan who annoys the heck out of the court with our multiple motions. 

 

What do you think, guys, if the Court put a cap on the amount of attorneys fees you could run up in family court, would cases resolve themselves a little more equitably?

 

Don't you think that if Shawn Tittle, the plaintiff in this case, did not have an endless well of credit to draw upon, he might actually be willing to stop litigating, come to the table and find solutions that might work out for the benefit of the children? 

 

Oh, no, but we better not let that happen, because all those court personnel--judges, attorneys, family relations officers, court reporters, marshals--who benefit from long drawn out litigation would lose their jobs, right!  I guess that's out of the question. 

 

The majority of my litigation is over now anyway, but I still can't help having a twinge of regret.  If only I'd had a money tree like my ex had, I could have saved my kids a whole lot of problems.