David James Starshak

Starshak was one of the lawyers with Horwitz and Horwitz that represented me for a bus accident I had at Ohare airport. Starshak was assigned to the case much later after the accident happened so, he can't be blamed for not talking to witnesses right after I signed up with the firm but, time does ca...use memories to fade. He was good at returning calls, emails and scheduling meetings when I requested. There were problems though that no client would want to experience. You would think that a lawyer would depose the police that wrote the accident report that backed up my position of how the accident happened and what the witnesses on the bus told him. You would think that a lawyer would depose my Supervisor that wrote up a separate report from when he was on the scene about the injuries witnesses on the bus told him they had. That didn't happen. Instead of Starshak showing up in court on status hearings, a stand by lawyer would usually show up and that resulted in an instance where the stand by lawyer had to refute via an Affidavit allegations Opposing Counsel alleged the stand by lawyer made in a proceeding. The Judge in response to the Affidavit issue ended up ruling in favor of Opposing Counsel as to his medical expert. The settlement discussion went down the drain at that point. When a lawyer has time management issues they use stand by lawyers. I never even found a Notice of Appearance for any of the stand by lawyers. The discovery judge tired of stand by lawyers and Starshak started showing up. It seemed that Starshak failed to conference with prior lawyers within his firm regarding an IME appointment I showed up for and the fact that I personally told him I showed up for the IME and had my camera out to film it but, the doctor cancelled the IME even though I told him I'd put my camera away. Then there was the issue of Opposing Counsel alleging that Starshak and crew failed to notify him of the current address of a out of town witness that was on the bus and that Starshak and crew failed to tell Opposing Counsel what the witness would testify to. The Judge Sandra Ramos barred the witness. This was the only witness on the bus Starshak scheduled for a deposition even though there were other flight attendants, executives and a ground transportation witness on the bus. One witness went to the hospital. The deposition was scheduled for when Starshak returned from Gerry Spences ranch. Opposing Counsel told the witness that the Judge had told Horwitz that the witness could not be deposed and Opposing Counsel also alleged in a motion that the subpoena was invalid as it related to contempt. I was shocked at the discovery Opposing Counsel came in alleging he didn't get. Even when the Judge asked Atty. Carter ( lead counsel ) what happened to the discovery sought via a subpoena in 2017 , Atty. Carter's answer was " I don't know." Opposing Counsel also alleged that Horwitz sent out a subpoena for discovery to a 3rd party and failed to send Opposing Counsel a copy of the request. I also had to ask Starshak to watch his language in front of me on at least 2 occasions when he referred to a particular individual using a section of the male anatomy during the conversation. As a result of misrepresentations I alleged that Horwitz and Opposing Counsel made to the court, Horwitz did not want to represent me any longer and walked into court on what was suppose to be the 3rd day of trial with a Motion to Withdraw. The Motion was denied but, Horwtiz said they couldn't represent me so, the Judge told me I either had to represent myself or work Horwitz even though they had said they didn't want to. The Judge wouldn't allow me to complete my sentence when I was trying to ask for time to get a new lawyer. Horwitz and Opposing Counsel suggested I could dismiss with leave to refile. I did that after a 5 minute conference in the hallway with Horwitz. No lawyer wanted to take the case on after looking at the sanctions the Judge dished out.