Alternatives to lien against our real property?

is the $7,000 charge by the attorney a reasonable one ?
have you tried to negotiate a more reasonable fee with him?
don't know what it is like in your state but in ontario one can ask for a review of a legal bill that seems unreasonable .
hbg

In reply to "hamburger" from Ontario
Part of the amount that is being sought by the collection agency are late fees, and also some of it is interest. A point that I am going to note in this case, is that at no time did this collection agency contact either myself or my wife, either by phone or mail, to let us know that if we did not make payment arrangements with them, we would be served to appear in court. As far as I'm aware, they are required to contact us prior to any legal action being taken, so as to give us an opportunity to respond with payment arrangements with them. I am feeling that this is very unfair, we had a right to be notified. Do u think that this may be helpful in our case in court, mentioning this to the court? I'm also thinking that if I can appeal to the court for reasonable payments amounts each month, that I may be able to convince the court to reduce/eliminate late fees and interest charges, but I don't know if that will be possible. I hope that if I state our financial/health situations, the court may be willing to work w/us about the interest and other fees. Something of note as well, just to give u an idea of how poorly this attorney performed for us, during a deposition meeting regarding our tenant/landlord dispute, this attorney acted totally bored, disinterested, and ultimately FELL ASLEEP during the proceedings, and had to be awakened by an assistant who was also in the room at the time! Can u believe that?! Well, we won the case eventually, by default, but was never able to collect very much owed to us at all. We've had to swallow the loss, which meant having to try to repair a badly damaged property as well as possible, in order to live in it ourselves, and move out of a drafty and totally run down mobile home we were renting. Anyway, thank u for your reply, if u have any suggestions, we'd really appreciate hearing them. Gary

Just guessing, but the time to challenge the principle amount and late fees/interest seems to have been at the time of the original judgement. Collection agencies hardly move without a judgement. You may be in a position to challenge any fees accumulated after the judgement, but it doesn't seem likely the original judgement is going to be altered. Just guessing, again.

In reply to Farmington,NM-Alternatives to property lien
We haven't appeared in court as yet, so for the time being there is no court judgement against us. We are scheduled to appear in court on the 17th of Dec. then we will be able to state our case before the judge. We are hoping that we can bring up the subject of excessive interest and late fees at that time. Thank u for your reply.

1. You hired an attorney to do some legal work
2. You were disatisfied with the results of this legal work.
3. You did not pay the attorneys account.
4. The attorney passed your debt on to a debt collection company.
the debt collection company have instituted court proceedings.

Questions.
At any time did you (in writing) communicate your dissatisfaction with the attorneys services?
Did you clearly state the reasons for your dissatisfaction?
are there any independant witness to the reasons for your dissatisfaction.
Did the attorney respond to your letter of disatisfaction?
Did the attorney indicate in any way what he thought might be the outcome of the original landlord tenant dispute.
Did the collection agency communicate with you at all with demand for payment?

Re: Alternatives to lien against our real property?


You don't appear to be at all prepared to walk into court on December 17th and defend this lawsuit. A $7,000 bill for legal expenses and fees arising out of a case that was settled by default judgment seems excessive. Given the excessiveness of the bill and the fact that your attorney fell asleep, why didn't file a grievance against your attorney and submit the bill to the State Bar authorities for dispute resolution before your attorney sent this to a collection agency?

We don't know if your attorney and the collection agency complied with the requirements of state and federal fair debt collection statutes. Perhaps you have a defense or a claim in that area of the law. Additionally, the $7,000 bill appears to exceed the jurisdictional limits for small claims court. If the attorney/collection agency gets a judgment against you in small claims court, the judgment is final and not appealable. Have you considered removing the action to the circuit court? Have you researched your possible defenses and possible counterclaims and did you place those in your answer to the small claims court complaint?



Here is a link to Oregon Statutes:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/

Small Claims:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/046.html

Judgments:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/018.html

According to 18.150, once a judgment is registered in circuit court, it automatically becomes a judgment lien on all real property that you own in the county. Inasmuch as you are residing on the property, you may qualify for a homestead exemption that prevents a judgment creditor from executing the judgment lien against your home. See 18.395 et seq. As you will see, however, your homestead exemption in the State of Oregon is quite small and doesn't afford you very much protection.

Again, based on the questions and circumstances you have posed, you appear to be totally in the dark as to how to defend yourself against this lawsuit and to protect your home against a judgment lien that will automatically attach by operation of law if you're unsuccessful in your defense.

You really need a good attorney ASAP. I know that hiring an attorney for your other matter is what is causing your current dilemma, but you really can't handle this matter yourself.

Debra--

Good to see you posting again. Welcome home.