I read the complaints about the lawyer, Scott Capriglione from 2003 and 2005 and it's clear that at least Capriglione is consistent in 2008. As a lawyer he's a disaster! I wish I knew about this website before doing business with Capriglione because everything the previous writers complained about are still true. He and his staff are incompetent.
Capriglione says he is a "father's rights attorney" and he specializes in divorce and custody cases.in reality he takes your money and does a terrible job. Capriglione talks a good game and makes a lot of promises, that he'll get equal time with the children, that he knows the other lawyer and knows the judge who is fair. He knows a great psychiatrist who doesn't charge much but writes a great report and the judge will listen.
But when it comes time for filing motions and doing legal work he is a disaster. He doesn't file motions for several months and when he promised me a one month court date in front of the judge he didn't say that first we have to go in front of a master. Capriglione lies and says he told me that but he didn't. He doesn't return calls and didn't tell me when the masters hearing was until that day when his secretary called. No letter, just a last minute call! Then Capriglione is 15 minutes late and is unprepared. You could tell the master and the other lawyer thought he was an idiot.
Nothing is settled so we have to get a court date. Caprilione assures me it'll be "in a few weeks" but it's not for two months. I think he lies just to say things he thinks will make you feel better.
I'm still not seeing my kids like I should and Caprglione isn't talking with the other lawyer to try and work things out. Right before the court date I get a call from his office that he's out of town on vacation. He KNEW this weeks before and doesn't tell anyone! So court is delayed another six weeks. He's still not returning calls and when I finally talk with him he acts like everything is great. He blames the secretary for not telling me about the vacation.
We finally go to court and he says meet him at 9 but he doesn't get there until 10! I want to talk with him and have him explain things and he doesn't get there until just as the judge is ready. He promised I'd see my kids on a 50-50 schedule but he didn't have a schedule ready to give to the judge! The other lawyer sees he's unprepared and jumps on it. So instead of working things out we have to go to a psychiatrist for a evaluation. Capriglione says it'll take "a few weeks, maybe a month" and that he has a psychiatrist who is real cheap and terrific. He doesn't want to go with the court ordered evaluator who charges around $700 each. Capriglione says they do a terrible job and to avoid them at all costs.
Instead of arranging for the psychologist himself he has ME making the call for him! He also had me make other calls for him that he or his secretary should have made. The psychiatrist was very nice but told me he had to get a letter from Capriglione and the other lawyer before he can do anything. I told him Capriglione said he'd do the evaluation at a discount because they know each other. The guy says they never had that agreement and he spends a lot of time on the phone explaining the evaluation. It takes 3 months! You could tell the psychologist knew what he was doing and that he was being nice and covering for Capriglione's BS promises.
When I talk with Capriglione he tells me he never said anything about a discount for the evaluation and he started to put down the psychiatrist, like he was a liar but I could tell the guy was being clear so there wouldn't be any confusion. With Capriglione all there is is confusion. I can't afford the evaluation so Capriglione says we should go with the court ordered one and that they do a great job for not much money and that my case is so clear there should be no problem. Before he told me they were horrible and to avoid them, now their great?!
We do the evaluation and the lady is pretty bad. You get what you pay for. Scott told me she would want all sorts of information I had but when I wanted to give it to her she wasn't interested. He said she would call the school and the doctors to see that what I was saying was true but she didn't. He made all sorts of promises about her that were BS and that I'd get 50/50 with my kids or even more than that because their mother is screwed up. So almost 4 months later the report come out and I get every other weekend and a Wednesday visit. What!
Scott says because the courts favor the mother that's not unusual and it's what he expected. BS! So we have to go to court and again he lies about how long it will be. He says he's going to bring in the school and the doctor and with all the evidence I have we'll blow them out of the water. I wait and he doesn't return my calls. When I finally get ahold of him and ask about the school and doctors he doesn't know what I'm talking about. Then he pretends that he does and says that he told ME to call them and bring them in! First he said he was going to subpoena them and now I've gotta tell them to come to court? I tell him he needs to do it and he insists that because they know me they'll do it and that he's never had a problem when his clients ask them to come in. Well both said no of course. I felt like an idiot asking them and they both said they always get subpoenas and even then they don't like to go to court.
Again he doesn't return calls and court is about a week away and Capriglione says it's too late to subpoena them. He's not worried because he'll get the evaluator to change their mind. So we go to court and he's late again and I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen because he never really explained it. The evaluator isn't there because the court has an agreement with them that they don't ever have to testify. That's why their so cheap. Capriglione has known this for years but said they would be there!
In court he's incompetent. I brought in some family and friends and he didn't even spend time with them before court to discuss what he was going to ask them. The judge got pissed at him a few times and the other lawyer didn't have to say or do much. Of course the judge went with the evaluation and when Capriglione tried to dispute it he had nothing to show the judge! I could have given him all sorts of information to show that the evaluator was wrong or that there was more to the situation. He wasn't prepared and he tells me we need to go with a private evaluator and the judge will make my ex pay half so I say yes. He stands up and tells the judge we're going with the guy he sent me to in the first place that I couldn't afford! The judge says fine but that I'll have to pay the entire cost because we already went to one evaluator.
There's more to it but I fired him right after court and found another lawyer. I got mad at Capriglione and he tried to blame everyone including me for expecting too much and for being unreasonable. The guy is a rip-off saying he's a father's rights lawyer when all he wants is your money.
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