- Jurisdiction
- California
I would appreciate any advice you can give me on how I should proceed.
To give you a back story my father went to a Gas Station / Store and came out side and had a bad fall and his head injuries were so severe that he was put on life support. We took him off after five days. As I did not know what happened I hired a law firm after speaking to a few different lawyers about our options. I was told they would send out a letter to preserve evidence as I know time was ticking also an investigator as well. No investigator ever went to the property.
For the last two years we went through depositions. We found out that the worker erased all video evidence of my father being inside the store and outside even after we requested for them to keep it. When ever I spoke to the legal assistant I was told that they have a certified signed receipt requesting them to keep all video evidence. Also in an email I was told by the lawyer that a spoliation letter was sent out when responding to my email about the certified letter.
Due to pandemic causing delays in a possible trial we were advised to go into Mediation. Our Lawyer started with a high number and during our meeting the defense told us they never got anything from our lawyer about a request to withhold video evidence. All that was said by our lawyer was it was sent out and a smirk. I thought for sure that the Certified receipt would of been shown at that time to show that a request was sent to preserve the videos.
Nothing got resolved that day even though the Mediator gave our lawyer an amount during mediation that they would likely settle for which was not agreed to by our lawyer which should of been since we ended up settling for a lot lot less.
I was sent out the final Billing (Had know idea of any amounts owed going into mediation btw) and on the bill there was no charge for a certified letter asking to preserve video evidence. I asked the legal assistant where this charge was and to send me a copy of the signed receipt. I was shocked to learn from him that they do not send out certified mail requesting this info. I was told they only do it only for insurance. Well I would think the request for video would be very important to this case and to have proof of it. He was the one telling me for the last few years that they had a signed receipt. Knowing this it would be good evidence to present in a potential trial to show that they possibly covered something up.
During this whole process my brother was told that the video evidence really did not matter because now to find out that they did not bother to ask for it. They only bothered to press the issue during the workers deposition and also come to find out we had to pay $1700 for an interpreter for four hours of worthless testimony about him erasing tapes.
Is this legal malpractice where in such a case that a lawyer should have sent out a certified letter asking to preserve the tape when someone died from injuries? Do I have a right to ask them to lower there percentages that they take from this case down to almost nothing since we were mislead to believe that they represented our family as others in the legal community would have?
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any and all responses.
To give you a back story my father went to a Gas Station / Store and came out side and had a bad fall and his head injuries were so severe that he was put on life support. We took him off after five days. As I did not know what happened I hired a law firm after speaking to a few different lawyers about our options. I was told they would send out a letter to preserve evidence as I know time was ticking also an investigator as well. No investigator ever went to the property.
For the last two years we went through depositions. We found out that the worker erased all video evidence of my father being inside the store and outside even after we requested for them to keep it. When ever I spoke to the legal assistant I was told that they have a certified signed receipt requesting them to keep all video evidence. Also in an email I was told by the lawyer that a spoliation letter was sent out when responding to my email about the certified letter.
Due to pandemic causing delays in a possible trial we were advised to go into Mediation. Our Lawyer started with a high number and during our meeting the defense told us they never got anything from our lawyer about a request to withhold video evidence. All that was said by our lawyer was it was sent out and a smirk. I thought for sure that the Certified receipt would of been shown at that time to show that a request was sent to preserve the videos.
Nothing got resolved that day even though the Mediator gave our lawyer an amount during mediation that they would likely settle for which was not agreed to by our lawyer which should of been since we ended up settling for a lot lot less.
I was sent out the final Billing (Had know idea of any amounts owed going into mediation btw) and on the bill there was no charge for a certified letter asking to preserve video evidence. I asked the legal assistant where this charge was and to send me a copy of the signed receipt. I was shocked to learn from him that they do not send out certified mail requesting this info. I was told they only do it only for insurance. Well I would think the request for video would be very important to this case and to have proof of it. He was the one telling me for the last few years that they had a signed receipt. Knowing this it would be good evidence to present in a potential trial to show that they possibly covered something up.
During this whole process my brother was told that the video evidence really did not matter because now to find out that they did not bother to ask for it. They only bothered to press the issue during the workers deposition and also come to find out we had to pay $1700 for an interpreter for four hours of worthless testimony about him erasing tapes.
Is this legal malpractice where in such a case that a lawyer should have sent out a certified letter asking to preserve the tape when someone died from injuries? Do I have a right to ask them to lower there percentages that they take from this case down to almost nothing since we were mislead to believe that they represented our family as others in the legal community would have?
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any and all responses.