J. Michael kelly, attorney ripped me off unethical scam artist
I met Mr. Mitchell Sperling at court after he approached me and my girlfriend, Ms. Anderson, and suggested that we go to his office to talk with him and J. Michael Kelly to discuss my case. I knew of J. Michael Kelly and didn't want to pay his exorbitant rates but Mr. Sperling assured me that after I see the operation, I would be so impressed with their professionalism, efficiency and their system to get things done, that in the end, I would be satisfied. He introduced me to everyone in the office, which had a family like atmosphere, and assured me that his firm never lost a case in Judge Pellman's court. My case would be handled in a timely manner and wouldn't be as expensive as other law firms who charged less because his firm had the right connections in Judge Pellman's court. They had eleven lawyers and a support staff of 25 which assured quick and fast results.
I told them everything as accurately as possible. I explained my short 3 year marriage was over and became complicated due to papers being filed incorrectly and untimely in court by my prior attorney, Ms. Emma Hilario. As a result, the court issued orders without having all the facts. I made it clear that I own a considerable amount of land, which was mostly acquired before marriage, bought with money borrowed from my IRA. I lived mainly on money from my IRA and borrowing $180,000.00 to support the lifestyle of my wife. Currently, I am cash poor. As proof, I showed them a declaration from Mr. Jack Zuckerman, Forensic Accountant, whom I hired pursuant to court orders. After listening to the whole case, Mr. J. Michael Kelly said that this was an easy, cut and dry case. A short 3 year marriage with no children and no income during that period.
They showed me a 16 page Legal Services Agreement which is totally one sided but claimed it was only for their protection from clients who want to take advantage of them and not to worry about it. Their rates were exorbitant but Mr. Jack Bennett lowered some of them for me in ink and assured me again that I would save money by hiring them.
My main source of income is dependent on the sale of land bought from tax-defaulted auctions. Knowing my financial situation, Mr. Kelly said that they could finance me by putting a lien on one of my properties. His initial retainer of $4500 was not as high as other lawyers. He took sixty dollars from his pocket and handed it to me and told me to take my girlfriend out to dinner. He said that they would relieve me of all my stress and troubles and to leave it to them.
I signed the agreement because they promised the following:
1) They would send me a weekly billing to keep me informed about the status of the retainer money.
2) They would appear on the two OSC's scheduled for March 17.
3) They would reverse the mistakes of the previous lawyer by filing a new OSC to modify the previous orders.
4) They would go to trial as soon as possible stating it would cost me around $20,000.00 for the whole case although, Mr. Jack Bennett later mentioned that it could go as high as $30,000.00.
5) Mr. Sperling said that he would write my previous lawyer immediately due to her malpractice and ask her to return the deed that I used as payment in place of cash.
6) He also said that he would have a vocational examiner for my wife, Andreea Dumitrescu and would take her deposition and the deposition of her live-in boyfriend/employer, Jose Fontiveros.
Ms. Anderson and I were very impressed with how the group presented themselves as very motivated and confident lawyers. We believed everything they said and felt that they were very sincere and would produce the proper results. I borrowed $4,500.00 from my girlfriend for their retainer fee and she gave them a check. Three weeks later on March 19, we gave them $3,000.00 more after discussing errors in the billing and receiving $1,100.00 credit. On April 3, they presented us a bill with our retainer depleted (account balance of $679.00) and requested $3,000.00 more. We noticed and complained about $2,100 in charges for a review and meetings that had not taken place. J. Michael Kelly and Christopher Walker, Financial Officer, promised to correct them. May 4, five weeks later they presented me with a corrected bill, NOW SHOWING $33,000 in billing! This billing now included charges for $900 for discussing my billing on March 19 when I gave them the extra $3,000.00 mentioned above.
Mr. Sperling has not produced any results. The two OSC's scheduled for March 17 have been postponed to May 15. No depositions have been taken. Not only has he not written the letter to my previous lawyer, Ms. Emma Hilario, but he wrote a letter to the opposing counsel promising them that he would get me to pay their bill. I do not know whose side he's on. He has not taken care of the Vocational Examiner despite numerous requests. He never appeared on my behalf on any hearing other than requesting a continuance, postponing my court dates twice, and NOW he has filed a motion to be relieved as counsel because I couldn't give him more money. He has reneged on his promise to take a lien against my real estate.
Read his Legal Services Agreement and you find he purports to force you to continually pay additional fees even when he stops representing you. When I received his bills that were ridiculously high for work that was never done, they invited me into the office to go over it then charged me $450. Per hour for discussing the bill inflating what I owed them even more than what they improperly billed me for in the first place. They kept me in the dark about this billing until May 4 when they slammed me with the $33,000 in billing discussed above. They won't handle a simple OSC, they drag it out by postponements so that they can continue billing indefinitely. They habitually make mistakes in the billing and then bill you for discussing with you the mistakes they make on the bill. Aside from a bogus $33,000.00 bill, after two months with zero progress, I am in exactly the same position as before I hired them.
It is sad to say that I have lost my trust in the judicial system. I have seen a lot of unfairness. To make things worse, lawyers are supposed to help their clients at the most difficult time of their life and not to take the opportunity to rob them instead. Sincerity, integrity, reliability, understanding, loyalty to client and producing results are qualities of a good lawyer. Mr. Sperling, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Bennett, and the whole group have failed us. Be aware what they did to me is unethical and what I think is plainly criminal. Do not have any dealings or sign any agreements with j. Michael kelly, esq. If you have any questions, please call me, andre deloje at 310-543-9965.
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