POOR billing communications-he later left off questioned charge.
Emails:
Jeff-to Larry
Hey Larry, This is Jeff Kuhn. Haven't received a bill yet for our telephone conference. Was wondering if you could email it to me?Thanks again, for your help, Jeff
Larry Davidson-to me
Jeff, Hot off the press...
Larry
Jeff -to Larry
Wow Larry, I thought your rate was $250 an hour?
Larry-to me Jeff,
My rate is $250 per hour as you indicated. You and I engaged in three telephone calls, the first of which I did not charge you for, the second of which lasted .6 hr., and the third one which lasted 1.8 hr. I also prepared for the third phone call by reviewing the LLC agreement and a couple of statutes pertaining to LLCs for a total of 1.0hr. The total amount of time I expended on your matter was 3.4 hr., which at $250/hr. amounted to the invoiced amount of $850.Please let me know if this satisfies your inquiry, or otherwise if you have any concerns.Larry M. Davidson
From: Jeff-To: Larry
to Jeff, Larry
Hey Larry, This year I called you to set up an appointment. Then I talked to you during the appointed time. That seems to me to be one billed conversation. What dates were your listed phone calls? I sent you the Operating Procedure only so that you would have it for reference during the scheduled phone call. I never requested pre or post scheduled phone call information/gathering research at that time, nor had I asked any question concerning the O P or the Statutes then. I've never authorized any Statute research or document research other than that to be performed during our phone call. In my past, with my other lawyers, they have always just used my operating procedures for reference during phone calls in order to answer my questions concerning it. During my phone call with you I similarly was asking you about my alleged brother's violations of it and whether or not I had a viable case because of these alleged violations of it only-for an arbitration, that's it. And you were familiarizing yourself with the applicable Op Procedure sections as we talked-that was obvious. Nor had you cited or even referred to any Statute or research during this conversation. We never discussed a single Idaho Statute. Are you not required to inform me before doing any billable research as we hadn't even made any agreement on pursuing any legal remedy against my brother Bob yet or since? And especially because we hadn't ever agreed that you were to be retained as legal counsel, otherwise? Again, the purpose of this phone call was just for you to answer whether or not I had interpreted the O P correctly and had a viable complaint. Now if the other 2 phone calls you here referenced are in fact the 2 made some year or two ago and even though when last year I phoned to ask for a subsequent bill you then said that payment wasn't necessary, I have no problem paying for them now regardless of it being quite odd that now you are reneging. At minimum I respectfully request that you re-bill me without the hour charge for research of Statutes and O P as it was never authorized. By principal I can't pay for that unauthorized billing without pursuing complaint, without prejudice. I dropped my previous lawyer because of his questionable practices and it really is my hope that we can reach a mutual understanding on this matter so that we can do future business together, with confidence. Thanks, Jeff
These are the Idaho Rules I have been consulting:
Larry -to me
Jeff,Thank you for providing me with copies of a couple sections of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Keep in mind, however, I am well aware off those Rules, having studied them extensively in order to become licensed in two states and having practiced law in those states for over thirty years without ever having received a Bar complaint. As for the time I expended on your issues/questions, my time was well within the parameters of that allowed by the Rules for matters like yours. More particularly, when a client sends me a thirty-six page document with the stated intent of having a subsequent conversation with me regarding specific rights and responsibilities contained in that document, it would be highly unprofessional for me to not have reviewed the document in detail prior to the conversation. I believe the time I spent in research and review of your matter was well spent considering I was able to formulate a course of action for you to follow that was not only agreeable to you, but that would allow you to achieve your goals while avoiding litigation in the process. My analysis and proposed course of action was obviously something you never received from your other attorneys. If your other attorneys would have followed my protocol instead of trying to answer your questions "on the fly," maybe they could have provided a better response for you...(ran out of room for following email) read more
