Xavier Starkes

Hired Xavier to represent me to negotiate with the insurance company after a boat accident in which I sustained significant facial injuries. I feel Xavier didn't put the time in to understand the whole picture. He seemed to do a cursory review, if that, of everything. He was telephoning me at ...least five or six times a week for five months during his representation of me, and I felt I continuously had to reiterate the same things over and over to him. I finally became frustrated and had a conversation with him about it, relayed to him everything he kept getting incorrect, and expressed I was not happy. Three, four days later, he sends me his first draft of the demand letter, and the things I had JUST expressed to him in that conversation were incorrect were still incorrect! In his initial draft of the demand letter to the insurance adjuster, he didn't even have the mechanics of the accident correct. He indicated I was thrown from the boat necessitating a water rescue. I had relayed to him AT LEAST 50 times the boat hit the pylon, my face flew into the center console and was knocked unconscious, another occupant got a life jacket on me, and THEN the boat sank. Although I told him repeatedly I remembered floating in the river and then being pulled up on the overturned boat and that I had floated in the river for at least 30-40 minutes before the rescuers got to us, he indicated in the letter I had no memory of anything. In fact, he was also told I was not sleeping well because I was having nightmares about it. So with all the information I provided him, plus our nearly-every-day telephone conversations about everything, he definitely should have had that down by five months! He also didn't have my medical providers or all of the treatment I received correct, and it didn't include some of the significant injuries I sustained outlined (tooth shoved up in my jaw, breaking the jaw and requiring surgery, and shifting of facial bones from impact were the big ones, but there was swelling and bruising that lasted for months as well). I kept copious notes of my recovery and treatment and conversations with my medical providers and photographed my injuries and the healing process. Xavier was in possession of all of it. In fact, I mainly maintained those records for him so that everything would be all laid out for him. It was disheartening to learn at the end the information I was providing him he wasn't taking the time to read and digest. That is what a client hires an attorney for! Along with a couple of facial surgeries, I had a few bumps in the road during my recovery. My life consisted of and I was focused on doctor's appointments, surgeries, and recovering. That's why I hired a lawyer in the first place. So I put my trust in Xavier, and I feel it was his job to know my case intimately, to learn all the facts, understand the treatment and surgeries and who the medical providers are, and have a concrete grasp of all the injuries suffered, all so that when it comes time to put the demand letter together and begin negotiations, he is able to speak intelligently about my case and advocate for me with vigor. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Therefore, Xavier gets two thumbs down.