Location: TN
2 months ago, we retained a lawyer for our landlord/tenant dispute for a constructive eviction case. The details aren't super important, but they have a funky corporate veil and aren't registered or licensed here. They've admitted in writing our argument, I've got records from the city and state that show they're unlicensed, and I had all of this two months ago.
Since retaining, we've moved out and paid rent via IOLTA to the lawyer. We discussed this the week before 9/1, but I had to pester him all day on 8/31 before he sent the link (with no explanation) at 11pm. He also said explicitly we would NOT pay rent in October, and now he's saying we may need to pay it before a hearing so the judge can see we tried to pay october
He's been super unresponsive, constantly missing scheduled meetings with no follow-ups. He has reached out to speak later that afternoon and then when I immediately follow up on a time, he ghosts me for a week.
He allegedly had a response to them along with the suit drafted on 9/25, and told me both were "signed and sealed to go out with the mail on 9/28". I asked to see the drafts before they went out, and didn't receive them over the weekend, and still haven't received them despite asking multiple times per week, for 3 weeks. He told me he was having email delivery issues and that he had already sent the PDFs. I am in IT, so I checked his DNS records and saw no issues that would explain outbound email deliveries.
If I send him written questions about the case, he will not answer them. I have to get on the phone with him, and scheduling is its own nightmare, and if I can get something scheduled, its not a guarantee that we talk that week.
He was cheap and flat-fee, so I guess I got what I paid for. No one would talk to me about a tenant case, so I took the first lawyer that would. But now I don't know what to do. He clearly doesn't want to file suit, but now I'm out about 3 months rent to this guy in addition to my damages from the initial suit.
We've gotten 2 "pay or quit" notices from our landlord because the rent for September is tied up in his IOLTA, and October is completely unpaid. We still have the keys, but we've moved out already.
How do I either get this guy to actually do something? Or does anyone have any advice at all here? I've been patient and kind to this guy, and have given him the benefit of the doubt but thats clearly not working. I talked to another lawyer in town who said my attorney was notorious for this, so I'm already shopping around for other representation.
Source: r/legaladvice · by /u/pentagon-jr-jr