James Joseph Whitus

James Whitus was absolutely the worst attorney. Hired James Whitus 2022. He did not do anything beneficial for my case but ask for more money. Once I was no longer a client of James Whitus. Everything with my divorce started to move smoothly. However, my spouse attorney was the best. Corey Lip was a...mazing handling the divorce. Corey communication was key to move everything along. Do not waste your money with James Whitus within the Melone Hatley PC.

Mr Whitus excepted 2500$ from my parents. Did absolutely nothing for my brothers case or to help. Mr Whitus not knowing me, I was in the courtroom and watched Mr Whitus bad mouth my brother with the commonwealth. He was to coward to tell my parents he wasn't gonna move forward with anything else rega...rding my brother so had his secretary call to say he wanted more money after doing absolutely nothing with the first 2500$. Now my parents are out of their money and my brother is stuck incarcerated with no attorney. If you wanna set yourself up for failure and just give your money away Mr Whitus is the man to call. He has no business being a defense attorney. He should be ashamed of himself.

On July 23. 2014, The Department of Veterans Affairs implemented the first of two garnishments to my disability Compensation check which resulted in a $12,189.80 refund for my-self! As a matter of lack of good conscious', they proceeded to garnish my accounts with-out full consideration to my financ...ial, Mental or Physical health. Up to this point prior, I was recently homeless in 2013 and deemed terminal by the Veterans Hospital Hampton, VA. Presently of the end result, they had ruined my credit and put me back on-to that slippery---slope to poverty once more. Then came Jim ,,,(James J. Whitus) He took my case when there just seem to be no other lawyer whom were willing to take up my matter. He took up this matter and made the difference, Yes, I will recommend him to anyone, anybody, anytime and anywhere! I plan to seek his support in the future for all of my legal matters, especially with those concerning the Department Of Veterans Affairs', Gary U.S. Coast Guard %100 per. totally service connected

Mr. Whitus met with me exactly once before my DUI case. We went over the details of my case and I felt confident, based on his record and reputation with Albo & Oblon as being "experts in the field of DUI" and "aggressive in defense", that he would represent me in the best way possible. On the da...y of the trial, he showed up late (stuck in traffic... I was in the same traffic, yet I managed to make it there in time) and did not recognize me at the courthouse (his own client). We ended up walking into the courtroom late as a result; fortunately I had not been called up by the judge yet. He told me there was videotape of my interaction with the officer yet did not bother to get and review the videotape as "it usually doesn't help" -- that may be the case, but how do you know if you don't even bother to review it? Mr. Whitus was unfamiliar with common over-the-counter medicine such as BC Powder and was unfamiliar with the effects of energy drinks such as Mio. He insisted that we would need to hire experts to testify every detail, such as to the effects of caffeine on the Nystagmus test (even though the guidelines required by officers administering the test acknowledge that any caffeine can negate the results of said test). He did not pursue this or anything else as a defense at trial and instead suggested only a guilty plea. Mr. Whitus and Albo & Oblon charged over three times what the average lawyer would have cost via mail solicitations after my arrest, and I don't feel as if he did anything beyond what they would have done. Save your money and your time and go with another lawyer and/or law firm who will spend time with you in analyzing the details of your case instead of just going through the motions and putting in a guilty plea. My assumption was that paying for a more expensive lawyer would allow me the opportunity to be represented by someone who would spend more time with my case, but it was obvious that Mr. Whitus had spent no more time than was required to show up. He even made it clear that he had another case later in the day that he would need to attend to immediately following my case. I was told to plead guilty and was given the minimum sentencing, not as a result of any offers by Mr. Whitus, but instead by the fact that I was cooperative with the officer. Mr. Whitus was anything but "aggressive in defense" of my DUI and I would never consider working with either him or Albo & Oblon if I were to be in legal trouble in the future, and would never suggest them to anyone I know should they be in the same situation.