I was arrested for suspicion of dui. I went to him the day after, it was in his house. Went to his basement, which had desks and file cabinets, was disorganized.
Upon entering his house, he had a cloth so you could not see in his kitchen. There was no help, no secretary, just him. He scared me saying they might take my license away, I could go to jail, that all cases are different, he wouldn't say what he thought what might happen. Gave his price of 3,650 which included for the mva hearing, the court case, but NOT if it was decided to go to a jury trial.
I told him anything but jail, he said he did not know at all what to expect. Keep in mind, I was in a parking lot at a bar, never on a public street. I drove very little. I did panic and he would not let me give him a check, only money order or cashiers check, so went to the bank and got a money order for the full amount. I kept calling and if he was not there, there was no answering machine. When I did, he admitted he was not warm and fuzzy. Consistently used scare tactics. He told me to call back in two weeks, so I did, he said then to call back a week later, so I did then, both times telling him what about counseling. The last time he gave me a number of someone who I left a message with.
After 3 weeks and I had more rational thoughts, I talked to other people, and went to see another attorney in Owings Mills, MD. He told me after all I told him that I WOULD not go to jail, and at worst would get a conviction. He made me feel more at ease, which is all I really wanted out of Jack Hyatt, what to expect most likely. With all his years of experience (he was over 65) he should have been able to judge based on circumstances what probably was going to happen. So, I decided to go with the other attorney. His fee was 4k, and that included if it was decided to go to a jury trial
I called Jack Hyatt and told him I was not going to allow him to represent me. And he tried to talk me out of it and then told me he was just getting ready to call me and tell me he was going to get my case dismissed! I asked why he couldn't tell me that as we had just talked 3 days earlier, and he did not offer any reason. I told him I wanted a refund, then he went off on this tangent that he put alot of time and effort even though the case was 1.5 months away, and I told him I would go to the attorney dispute board to take care of it. Then he said what was I looking for and I said 3k which I thought was reasonable, he offered 1/2 and I said okay as I did not want to extend this misery with him even though I think I could have gotten more.
He did have the check ready and it did cash however, but did not have all my papers ready even though I gave him several hours to get it ready. All in all, I would advise never using him and to think before you react. Don't do things in panic as you do have time.
This guy gives attorneys a bad name and takes advantage of people clearly. Also, after a week after I relieved him of his duties, he sent me a letter that I should be seeking counseling, to show you how out in left field the guy is. ALso, he said never, ever just drop in, to mail things to him.
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