- Jurisdiction
- California
Is there a law in California that states that an attorney must take into consideration the mental and or psychological state of their client? An attorney is suing me for unpaid fees. I'm not a novice as far as hiring attorneys goes and know that this firm definitely overcharged me for the work product. However, some of the charges were calls that I instigated partly because I was going through a very distressing time in my life, and the attorneys were aware of it. Were they under any obligation to take this into consideration?
In other words, is it ethical for this attorney to have billed me even if, due to being emotionally and psychologically disturbed at the time, I was making phone calls and instigating contact that was not relevant to completion of the work for which the attorney was retained? The linked article seems to indicate that a client doesn't have to necessarily be declared incapacitated by a court order, doctor, etc for the attorney to have some duty to take this into consideration. Should the attorney have politely told me that my calls and emails were not relevant to the task for which they were retained? It seems that, in a hypothetical situation, a very distraught client could be billed many unnecessary hours.
In other words, is it ethical for this attorney to have billed me even if, due to being emotionally and psychologically disturbed at the time, I was making phone calls and instigating contact that was not relevant to completion of the work for which the attorney was retained? The linked article seems to indicate that a client doesn't have to necessarily be declared incapacitated by a court order, doctor, etc for the attorney to have some duty to take this into consideration. Should the attorney have politely told me that my calls and emails were not relevant to the task for which they were retained? It seems that, in a hypothetical situation, a very distraught client could be billed many unnecessary hours.