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What are the ethics/guidelines for attorneys using the perceived power of their firm for personal lawsuits? | |
An attorney bought our 65 year old home last year and then threatened to sue us if we didn't pay him $1,000 because there was a trickle of water in the basement. We did not disclose any water problems because we didn't have any in the 3 years we owned the house. We ignored the letters on his company letterhead and he filed suit against us for $2,000 plus his attorney fees even though he was representing himself. We felt coerced into settling with him (for $1,500) because hiring an attorney would have cost us more than the settlement and we felt he would have the upper hand in court if we defended ourselves.
This just doesn't seem ethical to me that he could utilize the power of his firm to basically blackmail us into paying him.
What is our recourse?
Answers:
1Breaking your question down into three pieces:
1. Ethics rules governing attorneys are different from state to state, and are, in almost all states, codified in law.
2. Ethics guidelines also vary from state to state, but there are some broad guidelines issued by professional organizations.
3. The perceived power or ability of a plaintiff's law firm is almost always a factor in a defendant's consideration of whether to settle a lawsuit, whether the plaintiff is an attorney or not. Attorneys certainly have an advantage in bringing actions on their own, in that they don't have to pay a lawyer... but very few, if any, courts will grant an attorney fees for work the attorney does on his own behalf (there are exceptions, particularly in courts in which a statutory cost allowance is provided).
If you've settled your case, you don't really have any further recourse - part of your settlement, undoubtedly, was a release barring further actions.
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