This is a civil matter, however this still seems to be the best channel for this question. This is in California.
I hired an attorney who agreed to represent me for a fixed fee, let's say $3000. We subpoenaed 10 people, and per agreement I paid for this in addition to the $3000, so at $50 per subpoena, I paid $500. The attorney canceled the subpoenas (depositions) and informed me afterwards, saying you can't conduct depositions in civil harassment cases. Since I discovered afterwards you can do this, I lost $500.
I felt I was forced to sign a stipulation since I had no evidence to back me up, even though I felt I had a lot stronger case than the opposing party.
Question in two parts -
1. Can I request the attorney pay me back the $500 since he was wrong about our ability to issue subpoenas and conduct depositions?
2. Can I request the attorney pay me an equivalent amount to have another attorney (I am suing the opposing party for harassment, and I could have used the depositions in my upcoming case) conduct the depositions? If I were to assume each deposition took 3 hours on average, at $500 per hour, totaling $15,000? Which of course greatly exceeds the original amount I paid him?
I hired an attorney who agreed to represent me for a fixed fee, let's say $3000. We subpoenaed 10 people, and per agreement I paid for this in addition to the $3000, so at $50 per subpoena, I paid $500. The attorney canceled the subpoenas (depositions) and informed me afterwards, saying you can't conduct depositions in civil harassment cases. Since I discovered afterwards you can do this, I lost $500.
I felt I was forced to sign a stipulation since I had no evidence to back me up, even though I felt I had a lot stronger case than the opposing party.
Question in two parts -
1. Can I request the attorney pay me back the $500 since he was wrong about our ability to issue subpoenas and conduct depositions?
2. Can I request the attorney pay me an equivalent amount to have another attorney (I am suing the opposing party for harassment, and I could have used the depositions in my upcoming case) conduct the depositions? If I were to assume each deposition took 3 hours on average, at $500 per hour, totaling $15,000? Which of course greatly exceeds the original amount I paid him?
