Kent W. Minton

Hired Kent's Law Firm (Stewart, Cook, Constance & Minton, L.L.C.) to represent us in a landlord dispute. Brad Constance was the lawyer we selected and talked with briefly (We have worked with Brad on a number of landlord issues over the years). As papers were served we called Brad Constance back t...o update on money owed by renter for the eviction process. Left voicemail with Brad's assistant (Kathy) that we had a death in the family the day before and I really needed her to call us back before noon that day. Needed to ask if we are to be present and provide a dollar amount owed (In the past this had been the practice). They did not call us back we had to call two more times that day before we were informed that the assistant left at noon even though we called and left voicemail at 9:00 A.M. and Brad was now out the rest of the week. We explained the reason for the call with a receptionist and she would look into it and someone would get back to us. Later that day the receptionist called back saying that Kent would handle this we did not need to be present and would call if he had any questions. He never contacted us prior to the hearing In this case we called the firm a total of five times before we had one returned phone call. Day of hearing the defendant made a false claim. Had Kent prepared he would have been able to defend claim and answer at the time. His inability to think on his feet, lack of preparation and slow to respond caused further delay and cost in removing the tenant. When Kent made his introduction to me after court over the phone and shared with me what he did not handle. Advising me to give my renter additional two free weeks (Renters Request) of lodging and asking questions that clearly had he returned our calls in the first place he had been prepared and would not have resulted in lost time, property damage and money. Court gave my renter another week as my attorney was clearly not prepared. In my conversation with Kent, I informed him that he got out smarted by an idiot. He quickly ended the call and the next day during my fathers funeral Brad Constance calls and leaves a voice mail. Upon returning his call we are informed that the law firm will no longer represent us in this or any matter moving forward With less then a week to go to the second hearing our Lawyer walks away leaving us to represent ourselves. The day of court rolls around and Brad Constance withdraws in open court and leaves. At the end of the day we won with our hearing renter was told to leave however the time delay for our lawyer not returning calls or asking questions and unable to defend the silly claim of the renter, cost us a additional months rent. As it was explained to Brad in the beginning we wanted them out prior to the end of the month to allow time for repair and clean-up. This was clearly not communicated to Kent as he allowed the delays to take place. My regret is that I could not have fired Kent Minton and Brad Constance for this behavior I feel was very un-ethical.