I want to change my lawyer and we are picking jurors already. can I change my lawyer? what do I have to do?
JodeeW asked:
I am suing my condo association due to mold in my unit and the roof falling in. The mold was tested and was toxic ( the mold specialists also told us they would testify in court as an expert witness), the roof and living conditions were hazardous and my insurance company told me to move out and they would contact the condo association’s insurance… the condo’s management refused to give me the insurance information for my carrier to contact them and I had to hire a lawyer to get them to give me information on a condo building I own 11% of… then I called the board of health who found the building in violation and also agreed I couldn’t live there ( I am a cancer patient and am allergic to mold on top of all of it and both doctors wrote notes to the same effect that I could not live there) Anyway, it seems that now we are going to trial and my lawyer did not get my evidence in on time and now it can not be used and we are picking a jury already… so now what the lawyer shot a hole in the case by not getting my evidence in on time.. wtf is that all about?
so, can I replace this lawyer just by talking to the judge or do I need to hire another lawyer first and have him talk to the judge.. or is it impossible once the entire jury is picked?
can you change a judge during trial?? how can you get a new trial if your lawyer messed up this one??? someone help!
Black Mold
I am suing my condo association due to mold in my unit and the roof falling in. The mold was tested and was toxic ( the mold specialists also told us they would testify in court as an expert witness), the roof and living conditions were hazardous and my insurance company told me to move out and they would contact the condo association’s insurance… the condo’s management refused to give me the insurance information for my carrier to contact them and I had to hire a lawyer to get them to give me information on a condo building I own 11% of… then I called the board of health who found the building in violation and also agreed I couldn’t live there ( I am a cancer patient and am allergic to mold on top of all of it and both doctors wrote notes to the same effect that I could not live there) Anyway, it seems that now we are going to trial and my lawyer did not get my evidence in on time and now it can not be used and we are picking a jury already… so now what the lawyer shot a hole in the case by not getting my evidence in on time.. wtf is that all about?
so, can I replace this lawyer just by talking to the judge or do I need to hire another lawyer first and have him talk to the judge.. or is it impossible once the entire jury is picked?
can you change a judge during trial?? how can you get a new trial if your lawyer messed up this one??? someone help!
Black Mold
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Black Mold
I am not a legal expert.
If your hearing officer required that all evidence be submitted before trial, and that evidence is now not admissible, I don’t see how you are going to win your case. You might consider refiling your lawsuit later. (Of course, you’re still going to owe the attorney.)
Black Mold
You speak to the attorney you already have and let them explain the process to you. If all else fails, you can sue them for malpractice after you lose.
Step one would be a substitution of Attorney filed with the Court.
Black Mold
Without sufficient evidence, you will probably lose the case. You may have a cause of action against the attorney who failed to get the evidence in on time. There may be a way to introduce the evidence during trial.
You do not change the judge during a trial.
No attorney can just “talk to the judge” on a pending case without the other party’s attorney being present.
Black Mold
If this is a civil case then you can change of lawyer at any time. It would be better to hire the new one first so he can take over as soon as you fire the first one (that way he wont have time to put your evidence on the trash can to get even with you); then your new lawyer will inform the court about the change and if he needs some time to get up to date.
First make sure you really need to do this. And try not to talk too much trash bout the first lawyer since others lawyers might fear that you are a “difficult person” and might give them the same treatment in the future.
By the way, a change of lawyer doesn’t necesarily mean you that can win this case. And remeber that still you will have to pay the first lawyer. If you are sure he acted with negligence you can file a formal complain in the Legal Bar Assosiation.
Black Mold
messing up a case, can get that attorney’s hands spanked by the Ethics Committee but probably nothing else will happen to him. Why did he not get the evidence in in time? And what evidence didn’t he get in in time? And how are you sure that he didn’t get it in in time?
Ok, so you have the mold specialists that will testify, and you can present your case from your cancer standpoint. I don’t know how to express this without sounding rude, but when you play on the jury’s heartstrings that will probably win you your case. Maybe someone from the board of health should also be a witness and testify. And at least one of the doctors if not both should also testify as well as someone knowledgeable from your insurance company. Maybe their testimony would be stronger than the evidence. Now that depends on your attorney.
You said you own 11% of the condo, well I’d be curious as to why the other 89% aren’t the plaintiffs as well and in there fighting this with you. Do you mean 89% own the other units that aren’t damaged?
I know this sounds weird but it looks bad if you fire this attorney now since you still have a strong case and representation. And that attorney is talking to the prospective jurors, picking them to work with you and not against you. So I would suggest that you still go with it.
If you wish to fire an attorney the way to do it is to talk with another attorney and ask if they will represent you and if they say yes then that new attorney would file the paperwork for you to sign that states the reason why you felt the first one was not appropriate.
Judges get miffed if you want to change them, and of course you must have a good reason, and usually the reason is because they have something to do with the case like maybe they are a relative or something, but otherwise that judge will stay.
Well you don’t need a new trial, this one just continues so your wanting to change the attorney but change the way it was started I don’t believe will work, I mean I don’t think you can change that. Frankly, and again, I still see that you have a strong case with your witnesses’ testimonies and a hand picked jury and I’d suggest that you just continue and let it run.
Black Mold
You can fire your attorney, but you would still have to pay him. You could try representing yourself, but since it’s at the jury stage, that isn’t a good idea. The only way you can change a judge during a trial is if the judge has a bias. It’s extremely unlikely you will find an attorney to take the case at this point.
Stick with your lawyer. If you lose, find a lawyer to handle the legal malpractice case.