Bennett R. Klasky

My case was transferred to Mr. Bennett R. Klasky by a lawyer I had hired who had to move and could no longer represent me. I had never heard of Bennett before nor did I ever have a chance to ask him questions about how this would all be handled since the transfer took place without my consent. Bennet...t went on to promise that he would not bill me for the actual transfer or the initial phone conversation and would be billing me at the rate that my previous lawyer was. He then went on to complain about how he normally bills twice as much and that I'm lucky he's doing this for me. Bennett immediately began showing how much of an untrustworthy flake he was. He missed a court date which he was fully aware of and was even reminded of. When the court date was missed, a judgement was entered against me. I was furious, I called his firm and left numerous voicemails for days demanding an explanation and stating very firmly that he will have to fix this at his expense. After days and days of waiting, Bennett finally called me back and told me that he made a mistake and would get the judgement reversed at HIS expense. I expressed to him that it was very important to me that this case not be damaged by any mistakes or irresponsibility and that I was already irritated that I had to switch lawyers without any warning. In a few months time, I received yet another notice that a judgement was entered against me on a new court date. I called Bennett, very upset again and this time he claimed that he had been in court at his expense and that there must have been a mistake. He again said that he would take care of it at his expense and that he needed a retainer and $500 from me for future work after he followed up and motioned for a transfer to kill two birds with one stone. All went silent after I received notice that my case was being transferred to a court near my place. Bennett had a $500 retainer sitting there for the upcoming court date. There was no time that he could bill me on. Suddenly, I get a call from the original lawyer who tells me that the opportunity elsewhere didn't work out and that he was back. He said that he received the case back from Bennett and that he would now be working on it. I was very upset and confused, I had never authorized a transfer and needed to be sure that my case would be handled by someone who was familiar with it. I called Bennett and again was unable to reach him. I left him detailed voicemails which I recorded stating that I was very upset that he released my case without my consent and that I needed my unused retainer back in full ($500) immediately. Bennett followed up by leaving me a voicemail that I did authorize the transfer because that's what he was told (there was NOTHING told to the first lawyer nor was there any paperwork signed by me on a transfer) and that he's going to believe the lawyer over me because the lawyer is a lawyer. So in other words, he called me a liar. He said he would be requesting the file back, he would be filing a motion to withdraw and that he will "get his money". Bennett never once had a chance to dip into my $500 AT ALL. He is a thief, he is a liar and I will be filing a bar association complaint very soon once I receive his "invoice" for his time. He is refusing to give me my money back and will not ever answer his phone when I call. There are MANY other lawyers out there who will not rip you off, miss court dates and treat you like a liar. BEWARE!!!