Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/16/2023

  Type:Product 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.

  I hired Jillian Pressnall to be my attorney for my family law case. Unfortunately several errors were made and she made decisions that have cost me credibility in my case and money to address. Jillian:
  
  *Didn't submit my individual bank statements which made it appear that I was hiding money. She claims I told her I did not have access to those. In my motion, it states that I did not have access to business statements, not personal.
  *Didn't submit a working papers submission list which resulted in opposing counsel pushing for my motion to be struck.
  *Withdrew from my case without the required 10-day notice causing me to scramble to find another attorney before a deadline. The only one I could find immediately charged $500 per hour. She claims I fired her effective immediately. I did not. My email says that I was disappointed and that "I don't feel comfortable with your representation of me."
  *Added several inaccurate details into my declarations. As she told me to trust her, I eventually gave up and some remained.
  *Didn't include all requests from my declaration in my motion and some items she did request did not make sense for my case, creating confusion and the need for my next attorney to spend time reviewing case law to find solutions.
  *Edited a spreadsheet I sent her of income comparisons choosing to compare gross to net income causing further issues.
  
  My new attorney stated, "To be frank, your prior attorney put you in a bad position." Jillian gave me a partial refund, but it does not cover the damage. I am asking for a full refund plus money towards extra costs she caused ($10,000). I reserve the right to file a formal complaint or malpractice suit if warranted. Documents backing up my statement fall under attorney-client privilege and so I am not including them at this time. I can if needed.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/05/2023

  Ms. ***** has misrepresented the facts in her situation and I disagree with her request for an extraordinary amount of funds over and above the considerable amount she already received.  As attorney-client privilege protects communications between a client and their attorney, I consulted the rules of Ethics and the Washington State Bar Association before responding.
  
  Rule 1.6(b)(5) allows an attorney to reveal information relating to representation of a client to the extent a lawyer reasonably believes necessary to establish a claim or defense on behalf of the lawyer in a controversy between the lawyer and the client… or to respond to allegations in any proceedings concerning the lawyer’s representation of the client. 
  
  Ms. ***** signed a retainer agreement and had the opportunity to review it and sign it.  She was billed according to that agreement.  
  
  Ms. ***** has already received $6277.01 in free legal services as a combination of a refund and written off work completed for her case.  She originally paid a retainer of $7500. The work done and billed on her case totaled $9,767.50, in addition $466.49 in fees were paid directly to the court and process servers in her case. At the time I withdrew from her case, she actually owed $2697.01.  Despite her owed balance, I wrote that off and also refunded $3580 to her upon my withdrawal. All other funds paid that were not returned were kept according to the billing agreement for work done in furtherance of her court case. Finally, there is no basis for her request of an additional award given the outcome of the hearing and posture of her case after my withdrawal.
  
  The reasons additional funds should not be returned to her are detailed below. 
  
  First, Ms. ***** made decisions and took unilateral actions in her case which negatively impacted the process and my ability to represent her.  Her actions are the reason why I withdrew when I did.  While the timing was not ideal, and I have never previously withdrawn from a case at that stage of the proceedings, I also knew that my withdrawal was the option that would have the least negative impact on Ms. Metze’s case. 
  
  Ms. ***** received a bill from my office on September 26, 2023.  After receiving that bill, which had a balance due given the extraordinary amount of work that had been completed up to that point in her case, Ms. ***** informed me she had many other expenses at the moment.  She did not pay the bill nor make any arrangements with me to pay it.  
  
  Prior to that time, Ms. ***** had hired a second attorney from a different firm to help her with a different aspect of her case.  I suggested to Ms. ***** that it would be more cost effective for her to work with a family law attorney at the same firm as her business attorney.  I made the suggestion because I genuinely cared about the outcome of Ms. Metze’s case and she had expressed being very stressed about finances. 
  
  Ms. ***** informed me she intended to consider that and would get back to me.  She also told me not to work on her matter without her explicit instruction. She asked me to wait one week.  I did.  I then followed up with her and she told me she would get back to me soon.  She never let me know but the requested moratorium on working on her case remained.  
  
  Despite her delays, I informed her that we had work to do to meet a deadline for an upcoming motion hearing.  I cannot respond to motions without a client’s participation because I rely on the client to tell me the facts about their lives.  I do not know their life history or their relationship history, so without their input I cannot do my job. 
  
  In materials from opposing counsel, he noted a minor error I made.  As soon as I realized the error, I immediately remedied it.  I explained the error to Ms. Metze, explained that I had remedied it at no cost to her, and that it would not impact her credibility with the court.  While I had not made this error in the past, I had seen other attorneys make this similar minor error over a decade of practice and at no point had the court ever punished that party for their attorney’s error.  It was genuinely minor, fixable, remedied, and would not have impacted her case. 
  
  Ms. ***** refused to consider that to be true.  She also refused to respond to my requests to provide the necessary information for the motion response.  She informed me she wanted her money refunded and did not trust me.  As a result, I withdrew from her case providing notice according to the Rules of Professional Conduct.  
  
  My only other option at that moment in time would have been to file nothing with the court and inform the court Ms. ***** refused to work with me.  That would have had a tremendously negative impact on her case, and I feared that the consequences of that were significantly greater than my withdrawal. 

  
  The Rules of Ethics state: The effort to resolve differences should occur promptly, since in some situations withdrawing sooner rather than later may better protect client interests. Under RPC 1.16(d), upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interest, such as giving reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering papers and property to which the client is entitled and refunding any advance payment of fee or expense that had not been earned or incurred.

  
  Upon her new attorney’s request, I provided all paperwork and documents that very same day.  It took hours of my time to upload the hundreds of files generated in Ms. Metze’s case.  Additionally, Ms. ***** had no funds remaining from her original retainer to be reimbursed, as outlined earlier.  Despite that, I refunded Ms. ***** a considerable amount of funds and wrote off the outstanding balance owed to me. 
  
  Second, Ms. ***** alleges that she was forced to sign a document that was not accurate and that she did not agree to.  That absolutely did not occur.  I am excessively clear with every single client that I will not risk my reputation for their case and utmost honesty about the facts is essential.   If Ms. ***** had communicated that facts were incorrect in one of her declarations, I would have told her that it was significantly more important to get the facts correct than it would be to get a document filed. As an officer of the court, I am bound to provide strictly truthful representations to the court. It is the duty of the client to review documents for accuracy and notify their attorney of an inaccuracies. I specifically told Ms. ***** that factual accuracy was critical as I do with every single client.  She was provided a copy of the statement and ample time to review it for accuracy before signing. At no point, either before or after signing, did she inform me that her statement was not factually truthful.
  
  Third, Ms. ***** alleges that her new attorney had to do more work because of work I had done on her case.  While I have no evidence that this is true, I have taken over cases from other attorneys in the past.  It takes time to get up to speed and there are often actions taken by other attorneys that I would have done differently.  There are many approaches in family law and each attorney handles their case in a different way based on their training and style.  While her current attorney may have done it differently, that is not indicative of my making errors.  Additionally, Ms. ***** was refunded for the work I did.  The work performed by her new attorney is not unusual and would have been incurred in the normal course of representation, whether she had prior counsel or not. 
  
  Fourth, Ms. ***** sent me multiple messages demanding a full reimbursement or she would file a malpractice claim against me.  I did not commit malpractice.  I took steps to preserve Ms. Metze’s credibility with the court.  Ms. ***** made it clear she did not trust me nor intend to work with me at a critical moment when there was a deadline.  Her actions left me with no other choice than to withdraw. My withdrawal allowed her to request a continuance and have time to find an attorney that she did trust without me having to go before the court and say she would not work with me, significantly damaging her credibility with the court.  
  
  I do wish Ms. ***** the best.  I hope that her case resolves well for her.  However, I provided a significant amount of free legal services to her and took the steps I could in order to minimize damage to her case.  I have not provided specific communications due to attorney client privilege but can produce records if necessary.  I have attached a redacted copy of her comprehensive bill to show the extent of the work done on her case. 

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/08/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Ms. Pressnall says her actions did not harm me or my case and that they were minor. They continue to harm me and they are not minor. Because she did not file my bank statements, I was not in compliance with KCLFLR 10. Opposing counsel filed several new documents with the court using this as evidence that I lie. Ms. Pressnall became aware of the issue because I insisted that she forward me opposing counsel's emails and eventually she did, at least a few. It was only then that I say the accusation and asked her why I was being accused of hiding money. She then told me she hadn't provided the court with my individual account bank statements. When she did submit them after I confronted her, it was past the deadline to submit moving documents. My credibility is ruined and my honesty was my greatest asset. Further, opposing counsel uses her words against me, that my husband had left me "without the ability to purchase food or meet daily needs." My husband did empty our joint accounts, but those words of hers were an exaggeration. I accepted them because frequent revisions were wearing on me and I was trying to trust her tactics. I shouldn't have. I am asking for a full refund of all money I paid to Ms. Pressnall. Thank you. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *****