gone_fishing
New Member
I work in a law office. Already I'm sure you can see the dilemma. My boss is a nice man and says he's a christian but often times his actions prove otherwise.
He often gets frustrated with me for minor things like not telling a client he's not there when he doesn't want to be bothered. In this instance, I tell him if he wants me to tell the client he's not there...he has to leave the office...go down the hall...or something so I can say he's not in the office right now. He rolls his eyes but he does it.
Well, this wasn't really an integrity check but it was a crisis of conscience that would cost me my job if my boss found out, I'm sure.
I have a client who purchased a home that was built on a water table. There is a lot of mold and water damage as a result and she retained our firm to sue the builder of the home.
The case was filed a few years ago but was not brought to trial until this year. About a week before the trial, our firm decided to dismiss the case saying that we couldn't win the trial because we were still missing an expert witness - someone to testify as to the mold damage in the home.
Our client is very passive and she's been through a lot. She's spent 30K on legal fees, has lost her job due to a back injury and is in a home that she cannot sell because of the damage.
When we dismissed her case it was explained to her that she could re-file once she got the expert she needed. We could not ask the Court for a continuance of the trial because we had already gotten one so our only option was to take a voluntary dismissal and refile so the "clock" could start again and we could get a new trial date on the new law suit.
Anyway, I feel like our firm screwed her over because someone "not naming any names" should have told her that she needed this mold expert ions ago....I mean this case is 2 years old and he uses that as the reason he needs to dismiss.
Now I handle mostly family law cases but I did work on this case a little and I was on the phone quite a bit with this lady who cried because here she is her whole life savings gone...lives in a flooding house and has no job.
To top it off the company we sued came back and sued her for expenses they had to pay their attorney for responding to the lawsuit we dismissed. They wanted 14K in deposition expenses and discovery.
My boss basically blew this lady off. He told her that he couldn't refile unless she had the money to refile. He knew she didn't have it.
He was wrong for dismissing her lawsuit and not telling her she needed and expert in order to proceed to trial.
I felt so bad for her...and she was ready to give up. She said forget it. i don't know what else to do. I guess I'll just have to eat the 30K and deal with my losses.
I finally told her to do something legal personnell should NEVER tell their clients to do.
I told her to write my boss a letter and tell him that she is not satisfied with her service and that she feels she wasted 30K litigating a case that never went to trial. I told her to say that he ought to refile the case and not charge her for whatever work needs to be done to take her to the point she was before he dismissed it.
I told her that this should get his attention and that she should just go ahead and call the bar if he won't help her and I told her to add that to her letter too.
My loyalty is divided because I need this job obviously, but I couln't just let this go.
She did write the email and my boss was very very mad although he didn't know the source of the email.
He is now going to see her next Tuesday to refile her lawsuit.
Our client called today to say thank you and how wonderful I was for helping her when no one else would.
I hope I did the right thing.
So my questions is, did I do the right thing and how do you, as christians, living and working in a non-christian environment handle yourself if you are asked to do something that is not right...maybe it's not plain wrong and sinful such as blatant lying but turning your back on unfair treatment of people in general.
He often gets frustrated with me for minor things like not telling a client he's not there when he doesn't want to be bothered. In this instance, I tell him if he wants me to tell the client he's not there...he has to leave the office...go down the hall...or something so I can say he's not in the office right now. He rolls his eyes but he does it.
Well, this wasn't really an integrity check but it was a crisis of conscience that would cost me my job if my boss found out, I'm sure.
I have a client who purchased a home that was built on a water table. There is a lot of mold and water damage as a result and she retained our firm to sue the builder of the home.
The case was filed a few years ago but was not brought to trial until this year. About a week before the trial, our firm decided to dismiss the case saying that we couldn't win the trial because we were still missing an expert witness - someone to testify as to the mold damage in the home.
Our client is very passive and she's been through a lot. She's spent 30K on legal fees, has lost her job due to a back injury and is in a home that she cannot sell because of the damage.
When we dismissed her case it was explained to her that she could re-file once she got the expert she needed. We could not ask the Court for a continuance of the trial because we had already gotten one so our only option was to take a voluntary dismissal and refile so the "clock" could start again and we could get a new trial date on the new law suit.
Anyway, I feel like our firm screwed her over because someone "not naming any names" should have told her that she needed this mold expert ions ago....I mean this case is 2 years old and he uses that as the reason he needs to dismiss.
Now I handle mostly family law cases but I did work on this case a little and I was on the phone quite a bit with this lady who cried because here she is her whole life savings gone...lives in a flooding house and has no job.
To top it off the company we sued came back and sued her for expenses they had to pay their attorney for responding to the lawsuit we dismissed. They wanted 14K in deposition expenses and discovery.
My boss basically blew this lady off. He told her that he couldn't refile unless she had the money to refile. He knew she didn't have it.
He was wrong for dismissing her lawsuit and not telling her she needed and expert in order to proceed to trial.
I felt so bad for her...and she was ready to give up. She said forget it. i don't know what else to do. I guess I'll just have to eat the 30K and deal with my losses.
I finally told her to do something legal personnell should NEVER tell their clients to do.
I told her to write my boss a letter and tell him that she is not satisfied with her service and that she feels she wasted 30K litigating a case that never went to trial. I told her to say that he ought to refile the case and not charge her for whatever work needs to be done to take her to the point she was before he dismissed it.
I told her that this should get his attention and that she should just go ahead and call the bar if he won't help her and I told her to add that to her letter too.
My loyalty is divided because I need this job obviously, but I couln't just let this go.
She did write the email and my boss was very very mad although he didn't know the source of the email.
He is now going to see her next Tuesday to refile her lawsuit.
Our client called today to say thank you and how wonderful I was for helping her when no one else would.
I hope I did the right thing.
So my questions is, did I do the right thing and how do you, as christians, living and working in a non-christian environment handle yourself if you are asked to do something that is not right...maybe it's not plain wrong and sinful such as blatant lying but turning your back on unfair treatment of people in general.
Last edited:
! God puts us in environments and positions to be a blessing....
