In the past year or so, Chalik has done nothing but schedule appointments that are not kept. I'm not even sure at this rate if he would show up in court on time. It's as though he's purposely exceeding the legal time constraint for filing. Here is my story...
I first inquired with several lawyers more than a year ago. In 2014, Chalik responded aggressively, and one of the attorneys offered to drive to meet me in my city. I met with Chalik at my location (which was nice & convenient) for a 30 minute consultation at which time he had me sign to have his firm represent me. He requested several forms of documentation regarding my injury to which I complied, including letters of medical opinions of doctors which were not covered by insurance and cost me $250 a piece to get. He asked me to keep track of every expense I incurred regarding my injury and forward them to his office, which I did. I was told the estimated amount I'd receive based on other, similar cases he's represented. Once he had all my documentation and the estimate was understood and the case was taken on a contingency basis (meaning I didn't have to pay them until they recovered damages at which time they would take their portion) I was told we'd get started. The estimated amount was described at 200,000 but I was told that was of course only an estimate. Estimates can be more or less, and is only an average amount.
Of course, it played out like a typical injury case: the place that injured me claimed I'd never been there and that they had no record of my ever patronizing their establishment. (This is fairly common) but I also had a recorded voice mail from the owner of said location apologizing for the damage to my clothing, the injury I'd suffered and so on -which proved I was there on the date in question. I also had photos of myself taken at that location on that particular date, as well. This documentation was all forwarded to the Chalik office in a timely manner. Months passed and no word. I scheduled several phone conversations with the office, however I never received a call back at the designated time.
My injury (which is PERMANENT) became more of a struggle to deal with and attempt to hide. More months passed...I moved to another state (and let them know of my relocation.) More months passed with more un-returned phone calls. During this time, I met a friend who happens to be an attorney. I described my situation. My friend said, "I cannot take your case, as it's a point of interest in Florida where the injury took place. I can, however, tell you that it's common for lawyers to sign every case they possibly can, regardless, insuring that no other lawyer gets it..the cases that are "bigger" such as slip and fall or car accidents are farmed out to those in the firm while smaller cases are ignored until the last possible second before the statute of limitations is exceeded -and the client receives a letter to the effect that they can only "settle out" for a small amount, or nothing at all. Or, they wait for you to become annoyed enough to hire someone else and they file a lien against anything you receive, claiming they were the first firm that worked with you even though they did absolutely no work whatsoever."
Since I'm not a lawyer, and this news was scary, I decided to call around to other firms in FL as I'd not heard anything from the Chalik firm in more than 6 months. I found an attorney who was reputable and willing to take my case. And I was told my new attorney would be filing a sub of atty. soon to take over my case.
I understand that some cases can take 2-4 years to settle. But this is absurd, as they have not kept any of their appointments. If this firm plans to attempt to file any lien on my damages, I'm suing THEM for the prolonged headache they've been causing me.
At this point in time, I may or may not make the time constraint so far as filing. This laziness may have actually cost me, should that date expire. If it does, I'll definitely be filing a complaint with the FL bar. read more
