Matthew Taylor Vela

We hired matt on a flat fee contract to navigate a complex unlawful detainer on 5/17, on 5/20 the case was dismissed without prejudice and despite very few, likely less than one hour put into the case, it was dismissed without prejudice on 5/20 because the landlord didn’t serve us in time. He refused... to take the case if the landlord reopened and said we would have to pay another $6000 flat fee for him to take the case despite only spending maybe an hour for the first $6000 we paid him. Lo and behold, the landlord filed to reopen the case on 6/4 and contacted Mr Vela who told them he was not longer our attorney and had nothing to do with the motion to vacate and ex parte to expedite reopening. He did not make us aware the landlord was trying to reopen the case along with an ex parte which would have been the right thing to do…two months later we found out that they spoke with Matt on 6/4 and were granted the case to be reopened and now we are facing a lockout as landlord received a default judgement against us. He threatened defamation for a bad review but at this point between receiving 6k for just about no work and not making us aware by a simple call or text that our case was being reopened, we are likely going to be evicted because he was the attorney in record and didn’t make us aware. Knowledgeable attorney however beware