Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Bacon Wilson, P.C.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Bacon Wilson, P.C.

  33 State St Springfield, MA 01103-2003

• 

  Bacon Wilson, P.C.

  6 South East Street Amherst, MA 01002

• 

  Bacon Wilson, P.C.

  94 N Elm St Westfield, MA 01085-1647

• 

  Bacon Wilson, P.C.

  57 Center Street Northampton, MA 01060

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/21/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Please see my upload of supporting documents. I don't understand how I can provide as much information as possible, when this system only gives you **** characters.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/09/2022

  ****** was being sued by her Sister who alleged that through acts of fraud, duress, undue influence and breach of fiduciary duty, ****** took control and ownership of Moms money and other assets, including Moms residential ************************** to the case was Moms mental capacity and ******s actions as they related to Moms income and assets. 
  
  At all times relevant to my representation of ******, I shared my thoughts, my perspectives and my strategies with ******.  At every step of the way she knew what I was doing, and at no time prior to embarking upon a course of action did she disagree with or object to such action.
  
  My representation of ******, involved, in addition to the many phone conversations and emails with ******, opposing counsel and the Court, the following:
  
  Review of Court Files
  
  There were three previous court cases involving the sisters and the mother, all of which related to Moms mental capacity and her care.  It was necessary to review all of these court files to understand the family dynamics, and more importantly to learn the status of Moms mental capacity, especially since one of the allegations in the Complaint was that Mom was under a conservatorship.  It took several hours to review these court files, but it was an absolute necessity that I do so in light of Sisters allegations against ******.
  
  Answering the Complaint
  
  Sisters Complaint consisted of fifty (50)paragraphs. I invited ****** to answer in writing each of Sisters allegations so I would know and understand ******s position and so that I could resolve any inconsistencies between ******s position and what I had read and learned from my review of the court files.  I frequently consulted with ****** as to matters contained within the previous court files and her own written responses to Sisters Complaint.  In the end I drafted and filed the Answer in which I raised the appropriate affirmative defenses to the Complaint.
  
  Early on in my representation, ****** requested that I file a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint.  She was persistent in this request throughout my representation.  I advised that there was no basis for such a motion, as Sisters Complaint had met the minimum standards to withstand such a motion.  I made it clear that in addition to having a legal basis for dismissal, it would take a fair amount of work to put together the motion, supporting affidavits, if necessary, and a memorandum of law to support our position.  This was not an inexpensive process, and was certain to fail.  I further advised that this would not be a good use of my time or her money. 
  
  
  
  Propounding Discovery
  
  
  ****** kept saying, Shes lying, I did nothing wrong.  To that, I advised that it was necessary for us to conduct discovery so that we could learn what evidence Sister had to support her allegations. She initially pushed back on this suggestion, but I advised, You cant just walk into Court and say I didnt do anything wrong, because when Sister starts to produce evidence of her claims, you better be prepared to dispute it.  You will not be prepared to dispute it if you do not conduct discovery to learn what her evidence is.  I asked her to provide me with questions that she would want me to ask Sister that might help to reveal that evidence, or to provide me with a list of documents to ask for that might provide some insight into what Sister was claiming.  Though client did not provide written questions or the names of specific documents, she suggested areas of inquiry.  I then prepared my discovery requests, interrogatories and a request for production of documents, and sent them off to opposing counsel.
  
  Sister did not submit responses to discovery in the time allotted by the applicable rules. I was in communication with opposing counsel who advised that the discovery was in her possession, and that I would have it within a few days.  I advised ****** of this fact.  She wanted me to file a motion to dismiss for failure to timely file responses to discovery.  I advised that no court would dismiss on those grounds after only a few days.  ****** continued to lobby for a motion to dismiss. I consistently advised that proceeding with such a motion would not be a good use of my time or her money, and I could guarantee that this motion would be a loser.  In any event, I eventually (within a few days) received Sisters discovery, including probably ***** pages of Moms medical records.  At that time, it wasnt necessary for me to give a thorough review of the discovery produced, and I informed ****** that since a thorough review of the medical records alone would probably have taken a minimum of 30 hours I had no intention of reviewing the ***** pages of medical records.  She was in agreement with that decision.  I was, however, duty bound to at least give the discovery, the medical records,as well as the other discovery produced, a cursory review, which I did, spending exactly one hour of my time doing so.  ****** was billed exactly $300.00 (my hourly rate) for this review, not $4,800.00 as she claims.
  
  ****** always felt that she knew best how to proceed with her defense, although she knew nothing about the rules of evidence,the rules of procedure, or the elements of law that needed to be addressed in the litigation.  For example, she thought it was relevant and insisted that I bring it to the attention of the Court that opposing counsel had four (4) negative reviews on some website dedicated to that purpose.
  
              ************* Side
  
  On the financial side, ****** who had retained me in January, used up her $5,000.00 retainer fee by the end of April.  As required by our Rules of Professional Conduct, ****** received monthly statements with itemized time records.  At no time did she question the statements or complain about the time or work reflected thereon.  In June, I began asking ****** about payment of the outstanding balance on her account. Her response was, Im trying. She did not dispute any of the charges Throughout the ******* ****** was pressing me to file motions to dismiss for various reasons.  I reminded her, most importantly, that filing such motions would be expensive and fruitless, and that since she hadnt been paying me I wasnt going to waste my time on frivolous motions.  Finally, at the end of the ******* I had to file a Motion to Continue a court conference to a later more convenient date for ******, who was living in ********** and wouldnt be back in ************* until October. Once the matter was continued, we had a couple of months until our next event, so I emailed ******, writing, I have not received any payments from you in over 5 months. Your account balance is now in excess of $3,000.00. I cannot and will not continue to represent you unless I am paid.: At that point, she had not paid a ***** since she paid her initial retainer fee of $5,000.00 back in January
  Her response was, I have no intention of throwing good money after bad. I believe you deceived me, and I do not believe you have my best interest at heart. Please reimburse me $2500 [a completely arbitrary number],send me my client records, and file a motion for you to withdraw from my case.  Prior to my demand for payment, ****** never questioned my integrity or complained to me about my case strategy.
  I agreed that it was time for us to part ways.  I promptly prepared my Disappearance, and her pro se Appearance and filed them with the Court.  The entirety of her file was then sent to her as soon as practicable.  Nothing was retained by me.
  Contrary to ******s assertion that I have been previously threatened with complaints by other clients, I have never, in my 43 years of law practice, been threatened with complaints by other clients, and I have never had such a complaint filed against me.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/11/2022

   
  Complaint: 18443716
  
  I am rejecting this response because: ******************** facts are incorrect and there is no mention of refunding me anything from my retainer.  It is my opinion, that ******************** actions were for the sole purpose of increasing his revenue stream and did not have my best interest at heart.    
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 12/22/2022

  I made it clear to Client from the outset that I would not be filing a Motion to Dismiss Sisters Complaint.  I never gave any indication that I would consider doing so.  There was no basis for doing so, and it would have been irresponsible and a disservice to Client to do so.  She kept asking; I kept saying no; and notwithstanding this regular exchange, she never insisted that I file the Motion to Dismiss. She could have terminated our relationship long before August if she believed that she knew better than me how to handle her case, or if she believed I was not working in her best interest, or if she didnt like my billing practices.
  
  Whether or not Client thinks that there were three previous court cases, and whether or not she thinks it was important for me to review these court files, I was the lawyer, and I thought it was important for me to review those files. She retained me to defend her against the claims of her Sister.  It was my responsibility to determine how best to do so.  The three (3) previous court cases that I reviewed were Berkshire County Probate and Family Court Docket Numbers BE15PO325PM, BE15PO793PO and BE15PO702GD.
  
  I conducted discovery, because it would have been an act of malpractice to go into trial without having done so.  If client had insisted that I not conduct discovery, I would have withdrawn from the case.  Client points out that Moms medical records are full of inconsistencies, as if this somehow is to her benefit.  She refuses to understand that the Court will hear all the evidence and decide which items of evidence are credible, and which are not.  Client would point to an item of evidence that she believed would exonerate her of any wrongdoing (such as the fact that *** signed the deed in the attorneys office outside the presence of Client), and I had to remind her that such evidence was conclusive of nothing.  I advised that for every such item of evidence that might be favorable to Client there were other items of evidence less favorable to her and that the Court in trying this case would be weighing all the evidence.
  
  Finally, Client has complained that I didnt discuss matters with her before I embarked on various courses of action, yet her initial Complaint to the BBB and her most recent Response clearly describe in some detail the extent to which we discussed the case, my strategies and her requests.  In the end,her complaint is not that I didnt share with her what I was doing, but rather that she didnt like what I was doing.  She didnt want to continue to pay me for what I was doing, or, for that matter,pay me for what I had already done.  To an objective eye, there is nothing I have done that could be deemed a waste of effort or detrimental to Clients defense.  I can comfortably say at this time that if Client retains successor counsel, he/she will pick up a file that is well developed in terms of its readiness for trial.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/22/2022

   
  Complaint: 18443716
  
  I am rejecting this response because:   He is not offering any reimbursement whatsoever.    *************** states that he never told me that he would File a Motion to Dismiss from the beginning.  He did not ever say this to me from the outset, and furthermore, why would anyone hire a lawyer who says they will never File a Motion to Dismiss.  That would end the entire problem.   *************** states that I never insisted that he file a Motion to Dismiss, but I absolutely did on several occasions, and one of them is when he emphatically stated that he would not file the motion to dismiss unless I gave him another $5,000 retainer.     
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************