Joseph D. Bunin

I have known Joseph (Joey) Bunin since the day he was born. We grew up side by side in Virginia Beach, Virginia, living next door to each other from grade school through high school. Our parents were lifelong friends, and Joey and I carried that bond into adulthood when we both lived in Las Vegas. ... I watched him attend UNLV, working the slot machines to make money, and I always considered him not just a neighbor but a lifelong friend. That history is what made me trust him when tragedy struck my life. Twenty years ago, I suffered a devastating accident at work that nearly cost me my life. The injury left me with paralysis in my legs, caused by a herniated disc and spinal abscess. In the midst of this crisis, I turned to Joey for help with my workers’ compensation case. I believed that as a friend and attorney, he would stand by me and guide me through the most difficult time of my life. Instead, Joey was unprepared and mishandled my case. He left it wide open, and at the most critical stage, he quit. His withdrawal left me with no chance to find another lawyer, no opportunity for recovery, and no compensation. To this day, I live with chronic pain and the financial consequences of that failure. What hurt most was not only the professional negligence but the personal betrayal. Joey never accepted responsibility for his actions, never reached out to me afterward, and I later discovered he was practicing without malpractice insurance and had multiple malpractice lawsuits pending during the time of my case. I share this statement not out of bitterness, but out of truth. I trusted a lifelong friend, and that trust was broken. My experience stands as a warning: be careful who you place your faith in, because the consequences of misplaced trust can last a lifetime.