Barry L. Zimmerman

I had an initial consultation with Mr. Zimmerman, an Personal Injury lawyer, on my HOA case beginning of this year, and had been charged for $990 which acase involvs amount of $3880! I got his number from a friend's lawyer. So, I felt trustworthy to him first. I had a short initial phone call with ...Zimmerman. I told him that my previous lawyer does not familiar with HOA laws. So, I am looking for a new lawyer who must be very experienced with HOA laws. He told me a little bit about his education, and addressed his history of being a judge, but didn't tell me which areas he practices in law. He said that he has handled a lot HOA cases, and he charges $495/hour. I expected that he must be an expert in HOA laws by charging such a high rate, and he would provide me a valuable advice. But I did not expect he would charge every minute no matter what he is talking and doing, since all the other HOA lawyers whom I had consultation with only charged me for one hour, even though it took a little more than one hour. In the consultation with Mr. Zimmerman, I first felt that it took him much longer time to review the same documents. Then he told me that I would not be able to win my case. (he got his conclusion from his misunderstanding to the terms of the documents). He supposed stop the consultation at this point, since he concluded that I could not win. But he didn't. I did not stop him as well, since I didn't expect that he would charge me for every minute, and he would take his time. He continued his consultation, on things that are really unnecessary. For example, He said that even though he thinks I could not win my case, but he would not reject to take my money to be my lawyer, he is expensive, and he couldn't gerrentt anything … etc. I said that I could not afford him, and might try to represent myself in the court. Then he started to search online to find some Chinese organizations which he thinks might be helpful to me, … etc. I would stop him long ago if I knew how he would charge me! He did not end the consultation until I finally asked how much I should pay him. Even though we had had nothing really necessary to talk about, which was different than the other lawyers I consumed with. I was shocked when he told me it is $990! I told him it is too high than what I expected. He said that is how he charges.  I paid, even though I totally disagree, and i don't think his service matchs the fee he changed. I were afraid that I would not able to leave his office if I did not pay what he wanted. I did research online about him that night. Nowhere it has mentioned that Mr.  Zimmerman practices in HOA laws at all, but in Personal Injury, DUI, and Criminal Defense. And my feeling to his knowledge in HOA laws from the consultation with him I believe that he is not an expert in HOA laws who should not even offer a consultation to me because I told him what I need. I don't think that I should pay whatever Mr. Zimmerman asked for, but pay what is reasonable. I should not pay him an expert rate for his not-expert work.  I should not pay for his time on things unnecessary or for marketing, I should not pay for his extra time because his less familiar with or less experience in HOA laws( It does not sound right that he charges an expert rate but needs longer time to understand the same case). Mr. Zimmerman charged me for $495/ hour for 2hours. (from the records on my phone, the time of the conversation, in total, is about 1.5 hour. And it says 30mins free consultation here at Avvo site). The other Hoa lawyers I had consultation with have 23 and 42 years of experience and 40-80% practice in HOA laws, charge  $265-310/hour, and charged me only for one hour. Base upon above, I am disputing his unreasonable charge.