Complaints

This profile includes complaints for David J Crouse & Associates PLLC's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  David J Crouse & Associates PLLC

  601 W Main Ave Ste 1100 Spokane, WA 99201-0666

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  David J Crouse & Associates PLLC

  601 E Front Ave Ste 205 Coeur D Alene, ID 83814

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:11/09/2022

  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.

  ***************************** and I spoke over the phone on 10/24. She told me that if your partner agrees to it you can have your parenting plan your way. After explaining to me why her visitation schedule proposition of 70/30 was better for long term purposes I agreed. I then followed up by email requesting birthdays, child support, and my legal name be included in the plan. She told me on the phone that made sense and she could and would include my legal name so I dont have to carry around multiple documents demonstrating my name change. She also said it makes sense that I want to include child support. She told me she would be working on amending my parenting plan. She also concluded that my partner and I could have birthdays as requested, that including my legal name was not an issue and that she understood my email concerns. She then requested my partner and myself email her our income statements. I emailed her mine and my partner emailed her to ask what she needed from him. She proceed to ignore us for just over a week. Today, I was emailed that she is withdrawing from representing me stating that I have unreasonable expectations for the plan. Why then ******* did you tell me last week on the phone that you would update the plan to reflect these unreasonable changes? I paid a $2,000 retainer fee and she used every cent except $17! My retainer fee was used to create a parenting plan I never agreed to instead of the plan she promised me last week on the phone. She spent time asking what I as her client wanted to see in my plan and then promised me these changes and instead dropped the ball on me hard because she seems personally bothered that I am still with my childs father who is my former therapist. Her own personal bias towards my relationship that initially motivated her to help me has now motivated her to quit the job on me instead and I had to call the firm to request someone contact me about why she lied to me last week.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/08/2023

  RE: *************************** complaint, JD //-18352086
  

  Dear BBB:
  

  I am in receipt or your notification o[ a complaint against our business, originally sent on
  November 9, 2022.  A copy is attached for case of reference. Because of a lengthy trial I was
  involved in, all non-urgent matters were forced to wait to be addressed. In fact, for the last three
  months, I have not taken new causes as a result. Also, your complaint was mailed to our prior
  address and there was a delay in forwarding by the postal service.
  

  I have never met **************. The complaint made by her was with regard to one of our
  firm attorneys, *********************************. However, I have diligently reviewed the issues raised, have
  reviewed the file, and have spoken with ****************** about this.
  

  Please be aware that we are ethically prohibited from disclosing client confidences by the
  **************** *************** Rules for Professional Conduct (RPC). This is true even
  though the former client has made a complaint addressing such issues. The only exception
  would be if the complaint was made to the ***************. Because of the confidential nature
  or a *************** complaint, we could address client confidences. Because your process is
  public, I can only provide a response that does not reveal any client confidences. Nonetheless, I
  believe I can still fairly address the complaint.
  

  ****************** took the case on a very low retainer ($2,000.00) because she wanted to help
  ************** who had limited funds. ************** was advised that the typical retainer for our firm
  was $4,000.00 (which is very typical for our region). ****************** advised ************** that she
  needed to be very prudent with her time and use her resources to the best possible extent. In
  other words, we needed to focus on the most important issues and funding was not available to
  address minor concerns.
  

  ************** requested that an appropriate parenting plan be drafted, and *****************************
  advised her of what would be successful in our courts. ****************** also provided guidance on
  child support. After creating a plan that ************** was initially satisfied with, ************** made
  multiple requests for changes. Despite admonition and efforts to re-direct her to better uses of
  her retainer by ******************, ************** was necessarily using her retainer by requesting
  continuing changes/revision.
  

  ************** had been involved in a prior case (before our representation), which I am not
  at liberty to disclose given the Bar rules. ****************** advised ************** of steps she should take
  to address those potential issues. ************** did not follow through with these requests.
  

  Instead, ************** desired to re-visit parenting and child support issues and was advised
  that this was not a good use of her resources. She was advised that she needed to complete the
  steps outlined by ****************** (as noted in the above paragraph). ************** insisted, which is her
  right as a client, for the focus to be on relatively minor parenting and support revisions.
  However, in so doing, she fully used her retainer.
  

  ***************************** empathized with ****************** financial issues, and substantially reduced
  her time ********. At the time that *********************** withdrew from her case, ************** had
  exceeded the retainer by approximately $300.00. ****************** wrote all of that time off so that
  ************** had no debt to our firm.
  

  Our written fee agreement, signed by **************, provides that when the retainer is fully
  utilized, a new retainer is required. ************** did not have the funds for this. Our written fee
  agreement further provides that if the new retainer is not paid, that we will withdraw from
  representation (as allowed by **************** Bar Rules). ****************** then withdrew from
  representation in full compliance with all Rules.
  

  It js unfortunate that we could not complete the case for **************. We care about our
  clients and always want to complete their matters for them, providing a very good result.
  However, since ************** was operating under the benefit of a substantially reduced retainer, she
  had an equal duty to be very focused on her representation requests.
  

  Even after she made this BBB complaint, ************** has contacted our firm requesting
  that we complete matters. As explained to her, we cannot work for free on this case. This case,
  per our written fee agreement, was not taken in a as pro **** case . It is not reasonable for a
  client to expect potentially thousands of dollars of ongoing free work. ************** should contact
  the Spokane County *************** and connect with their pro **** resources for such work.
  The ***************************** family law facilitator also provides free services. This
  information was provided to her.
  

  This is the extent of the information that I can provide you. ***************************** tried very
  hard to keep this case on budget while delivering a quality result. Unfortunately, that was not
  possible, and all steps taken by this firm have been in accord with our written fee agreement and
  **************** *************** Rules.
  

  Thank you for your consideration. Please take note our correct address on page one of
  this letter. Your complaint references our prior address, and we moved in March 2022.
  

  Sincerely,
  
  David J. Crouse
  Partner, Crouse Erickson