Wrongful death - incompetent firm

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mzsivvie

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My father drowned in a water accident, approximately 21 months ago, in California. My brother and me have attorneys working on the case, however, we never hear from the attorneys; no case updates, no return phone calls, etc. We didn't hear from them for 7.5 months, left several messages, and when they finally did call back, they said, "Oh, we've been meaning to contact you to set up a deposition". I gave the attorney a date for the deposition. The day before the deposition, I called them to confirm, and the attorney told me that they were not able to coordinate a date with the defense attorneys, therefore, the deposition was cancelled. I asked why I wasn't informed of this, and the attorney said, that she didn't see the need to call me back to tell me that it had been cancelled. If it had taken place as planned, then she would have called me to confirm.

Also, there was a malfunction with the boat that my dad was in, and whereby he subsequently drowned, and the attorney told me that they were not going to name the boat manufacturer in the case, because, "if we go after every boat that cuts off in the water, we would put all the boat manufacturers out of business". Also, they are not naming the State of California, because of government immunity.

While we understand that our case is not the only case they are working on, we feel that they are incompetent and that we deserve some kind of communication from them. We have not given them any money; this is all done on a contingency. We have signed an agreement, but would really like to terminate the agreement with hopes of finding another firm. What are the ramifications of terminating the agreement with the existing firm? Is this something that me and my brother can do? Please advise. Thank you.
 
Tell them they are fired and get another firm (if you can).

From the tiny amount of facts you have given, it does not look like you have a strong case.

Fill me in if I am wrong.
 
Wrongful death

We would like to fire them, but we are not sure if we can, given the fact that we have signed an agreement with them to handle the case. If we fire them, we are not sure if we owe them money for the work that they have done, thus far. The agreement is for them to collect, if they win the case.

My dad was about to take a speedboat out that he had rented from the Marina, however, the speedboat wouldn't start. My dad, wearing a life preserver, was in shallow water next to the boat, and was assessing the situation when he was dragged underwater by egeria and became entangled in egeria, a densa grass, that the State Department of Boating and Waterways has been aware of for 5 years, and has spent 4 million dollars a year treating with herbicides. My father was not able to free himself from the tentacle-like grass and drowned. A teenager died one day before my dad did, the same scenario, and no one put us on notice that boating or swimming (in that part of the Delta) was unsafe. The Supervisor of Boating and Waterways gave a statement, saying, "Officials have long been worried about the plants compromising boater safety".

Would this be an issue of product liability (the speedboat); those who made the product available to the public are held responsible for the injuries the product caused? Is the State of California responsible because they knew the egeria existed before the accident happened? Our attorneys are only going after the Marina, but the Marina went out of business a few months after the accident occurred.

We would like to fire them, but we are not sure of any ramifications.
 
You can most definitely fire your current attorney. Honestly, I would. 7.5 months with absolutely no contact is a bit much. I go weeks without contact my clients but certainly not that long. If you consult another attorney who decides to take on the case they will send a letter to the former attorney who will send them your file and they have the right to put a lien om the settlement for the work they've already done on the file. They will normally send the amount of the lien to your new attorney and your new attorney can negotiate that with them. In fact, if you hire a new attorney they will normally contact your former attorney right away and request they do not contact you regarding the matter.
 
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