{"id":8204,"date":"2012-04-19T15:29:58","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T19:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=8204"},"modified":"2015-08-13T14:12:28","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T18:12:28","slug":"i-file-a-grievance-against-my-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=8204","title":{"rendered":"Filing a grievance against a lawyer. 5"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I mailed a seven-page complaint against my personal injury lawyers, Dinkes &amp; Schwitzer, to the Supreme Court Departmental Disciplinary Committee.<\/p>\n<p>I followed my own instructions and advice about grievances (see the whole shebang under the <strong>Problems With Your Lawyer<\/strong> category of <strong>Sidebar<\/strong>, to the right \u2192).<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve picked up a few experiential tips to add to the advice.<\/p>\n<p>First, though, I must emphasize again how invaluable was my up-to-date Time Line, or what CaseMap calls the Fact Chronology. Everything I needed was in there. I can&#8217;t imagine how dreadful a job this would have been had I not maintained that Time Line.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Although the instructions say that we don&#8217;t have to use the forms the appropriate Judicial Department supplies on line, I used them, although the second page entitled &#8220;Complaint&#8221; I replicated as a computer document.<\/li>\n<li>I decided it would be easier for a Committee person to read the whole story if it were separated into parts. First, I wrote an <strong>Overview<\/strong> section: I stated when I retained the law firm to pursue the suit; then I stated how, although I had responded promptly to my lawyers&#8217; requests, the lawyers themselves have failed to respond to me. Just a general statement, that&#8217;s all.\u00a0 And then in the last paragraph I brought the story up to date: I still don&#8217;t know whether Dinkes &amp; Schwitzer has even received a settlement check for my case and that they have failed to answer my specific questions about costs and expenses.<\/li>\n<li>Then I wrote <strong>Critical chronology. <\/strong>Under that heading I wrote the specific events that caused me to, first, retain the lawyers and, now, file a grievance against them. I started each paragraph with the date something happened and then described what happened. I separated each incident or event into a paragraph. At the end of each incident in which the lawyers failed to do something, I summarized what they had failed to do, in italics: <em>&#8220;I was not given a copy of the retainer agreement or any of the papers I signed.&#8221;<\/em> (I figured why not make it easier for the Committee to spot immediately what was wrong.)<\/li>\n<li>Whenever an incident referred to a particular document such as the retainer agreement and various letters I wrote to Dinkes, I put in parentheses &#8220;Attached at 1,&#8221; or 2, or whatever number followed. I had eight attachments. I double-checked these numbers against my complaint a number of times.<\/li>\n<li>I wrote everything in plain, simple English. I did not allow one emotional adjective or adverb. Just the simple facts: &#8220;On August 19, 2008, I was summoned to Dinkes to read and sign the Verified Complaint. <em>I was never sent a copy<\/em>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>After I wrote out every incident that I felt was unprofessional and\/or unsatisfactory, I wrote a <strong>Summary, <\/strong>with a bullet list, starting with &#8220;Dinkes &amp; Schwitzer and their numerous associates have not kept me informed of the status of my case.&#8221; Et cetera.<\/li>\n<li>At the bottom, I copied the sentence and signature line from the form.<\/li>\n<li>I printed the document and did what I do best: I edited, over and over and over. I want everything to be perfect, correct, simple and honest. And typo-free \u2014 although I must tell you that, in copying that sentence above, &#8220;Dinkes &amp; Schwitzer and their numerous associates&#8230;&#8221; I noticed a TYPO. It is my nature to be upset by this. (I will get over it. Eventually.)<\/li>\n<li>I page-numbered the document.<\/li>\n<li>I printed out two final copies, signed both.<\/li>\n<li>I pulled all of the attachments I had cited, put them into order and took them and the first form of the complaint, which I had filled out in pen, to Staples, where I made two copies of everything.<\/li>\n<li>When I came home, I put the package together: (1) the complaint form; (2) my seven-page narrative; (3) a binder tab sheet with &#8220;Attachments&#8221; written on the tab; and (4) the attachments (I wrote the number of each on the top right hand corner in big black numbers).<\/li>\n<li>I stapled everything (I figure it&#8217;s better to ask the Committee to pry the staple open than the clip the whole thing and risk having pages lost), and mailed the original. I plunked the copy into my file.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;ll let you know what happens. According to the instruction booklet, I should hear something from the Committee in a month or so. Beyond that, though, will I hear from Dinkes? Because a grievance will not, in effect, negotiate this settlement. I might have to go further to get an accurate and fair settlement check from these people.<\/p>\n<p>If I have to go further, I will. I hope I don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I mailed a seven-page complaint against my personal injury lawyers, Dinkes &amp; Schwitzer, to the Supreme Court Departmental Disciplinary Committee. I followed my own instructions and advice about grievances (see the whole shebang under the Problems With Your Lawyer &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=8204\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1175],"tags":[6,32,436,213,487,68,369],"class_list":["post-8204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-experienced-plaintiff","tag-how-lawyers-drive-clients-crazy","tag-law-and-the-courts","tag-personal-injury-lawsuits","tag-problems-with-lawyers","tag-settlement-negotiations","tag-time-lines"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Writing and editing tips about filing grievances against lawyers.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Naomi\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"filing a grievance against your lawyer,supreme court departmental disciplinary committee grievance,tips for writing and editing a grievance against a lawyer,filing a grievance against dinkes &amp; 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