April Annetionette Atkins

This attorney informed us our case against an unlicensed contractor was not only strong to relieve ourselves of any lien applied, but that we could likely recover monies in civil court. Once we signed a retainer and our costs were set, everything changed. Suddenly she was negotiating how much more mo...ney we were to pay the unlicensed contractor, not only for work that would and should not pass inspection, but also for work not even begun. Being a construction lawyer I was shocked I had to even point out doors at a commercial property must be in a permit, and she fought tooth and nail that was not correct (among a list of many things she seemed ignorant on). Her empty sales pitch pre-retainer, and her utter lack of knowledge of the construction industry baffles me, and I am still uncertain whether it was from incompetence, or a desire for a quick buck from unfair settlement that drove our case. Nonetheless we dropped her as our counsel. After doing so, not only did we not have to negotiate or pay the unlicensed contractor, but the contractors counsel's attempt to threaten a lien was also dropped with a simple 15 minutes conversation I had informing him of the documentation I had outlining his client's actions. His client was and might still be under investigation by Orange County Consumer Fraud, Florida State Department of Business Regulation. We have yet to retain a lawyer to now recuperate money lost to this unlicensed contractor through civil court, mostly because we are so wary after Ms. Atkins "handled" our case. You should not have to pay for counsel that negligent, nor find you can do a better job without any qualifications. We requested a refund for that retainer money based on the above, and as you can imagine, that didn't happen. At least with the unlicensed contractors bill, we got something out of it, even if it was shoddy, dangerous, and ultimately removed structure.