Response: We don't have a client by the name of Michael D. However, based on the timing of the review I believe I know who this client is. The client told us they had insurance when they hired us, and gave us a set of facts that were incorrect. After taking the case, it turned out the client had no insurance, and the police report put the client at fault. Additionally, the client missed weeks of doctors appointments and did not want to treat for injuries.

We let the client know that we could no longer help him, but we directed him to another lawyer who was willing to help (who he did hire). The client then called our office over a dozen times demanding that our staff take the case back. Every time we politely explained why we were unable to keep the case. We let him know that unfortunately we could not keep the case because of the lack of insurance and the facts of the accident (and lack of treatment).

We pride ourselves on great communication, and I give my cell phone number to my clients who can call me any time. I also make myself available every single day to talk to clients. However, we are unable to take every single case, especially when a client is not honest with us about the facts of loss or the fact that they have no insurance. And even then, we did not simply drop the client's case, we referred him to another lawyer who we know that was willing to still help him.

If this client reaches out to me at my office I would be happy to chat with him again to discuss the case.

- CSLG

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47252522)

the magic was never seen before and hasnt been seen since

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47252639)

i think there are some advisory peices by various state bars on this

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47254225)

he runs a PI firm, clearly explains to the clients, who are mostly if not all low iq, the process, in a way that they can understand, and let's them know why or why not they can do something.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47254231)

Thus, from a purely marketing perspective, the attorney may be warranted in responding.

However, attorneys are bound by the duty of loyalty and the duty of confidentiality.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47255879)

In any sane world this kind of collusion between doctors and attorneys would be illegal

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47255443)

EVERYONE. GETS. INJECTIONS.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47255451)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47256084)

I got into a serious accident while in an uber. Went to physical therapy for months. Had 3 cortisone injections into my neck. All the doctors I went to were through the law office. Two years later the injury to my neck (which the doctors claimed was just "inflammation") - is worse than ever. I can barely move my neck. Nonstop chronic headaches. Excrutiating neck pain, like I just had the accident two days ago.

I was told to stop physical therapy and settle, or take the case to trial - after about 5 short months of the most half ass physical therapy you've ever seen. (as an athlete - I felt it was extremely mediocre) ...I'm a professional dancer of over 20 years & I didn't get a dime for the longterm affect this will/is having on my career. Nor for the affect it has had on me, as an athletic person.

Seems this attorney sues uber a lot. So settling for a shitty figure for any injury - so long as he gets a quick cut is his MO. My injury is life-long, it seems. DEFINITELY didn't get the settlement one would associate with this type of injury. Didn't know I would never heal. Didn't want to take it to trial & risk losing & getting nothing. But I deserved more.

If you're seriously injured and expect money that is at least relative to the degree you are injured, go to your own doctors. Don't trust his doctors. Don't waste your time & certainly not your health. Get a different opinion. Get tests done somewhere else. Know the truth about your injury.

If I could return the money & continue therapy and sue uber for WAY more - I would. Life changing injury, and I got chump change.

Response:

This is attorney CSLG. I appreciate your feedback and attempted to contact you through Yelp! and via phone to discuss, but I haven't heard back. I understand your concerns, but I wanted to address some inaccuracies about your feedback.

I reviewed your file and understand this was a large accident. As you mention correctly in your review ("seems this attorney sues uber a lot"), we have handled hundreds of ride share cases. Because of this, our office knows that many times it is necessary to file a lawsuit against them to get fair compensation.

According to our records, after your pain management, you had been discharged from physical therapy, and we sent a demand with your permission. The insurance offer at this point wasn't very good and we advised you that your choices were either to (1) settle the case or (2) file a lawsuit and fight. We recommended filing a lawsuit because we felt the offer was not high enough. Your review acknowledges this by stating "I was told to stop physical therapy and settle, or take the case to trial." I advised you that our law firm has filed hundreds of lawsuits and we go to trial all the time, and that we would fight for you to get what is fair.

I explained to you that the offer was their top number and the only way to increase it was to file a lawsuit. You indicated you would call me back and let me know what you wanted us to do.

After that conversation, we attempted to reach you for over a month to see what you wanted us to do. Our records indicate that we tried to reach you on 5/31/19, 6/3/19, 6/4/19, 6/10/19, 6/11/19, 6/14/19, 6/18/19, 7/1/19. On July 2, 2019, you instructed us to settle the case. I offered to file a lawsuit to fight more, but you said you did not want to fight. Your review acknowledges that you "Didn't want to take it to trial & risk losing & getting nothing."

Your review ends by stating "If I could return the money & continue therapy and sue uber for WAY more - I would." This is exactly what we had advised you to do, FIGHT.

I am very sorry you are unhappy with the outcome, but I am unsure what we could have better to serve you. We pride ourselves on great customer service, always being available for questions, keeping organized files, fighting unjust offers, and working with clients to give them all the options available. Your review has zero complaints about any part of our service that we have control over. The only complaint appears to be regarding the available legal remedies, which our office has no control over.

We advised you to fight to get what you deserved but you instructed us to settle. The reason why clients hire a lawyer is to get the advise they need to maximize their recovery. Clients are free to settle their cases or fight. But as lawyers, we cannot maximize recovery without clients following our advise.

I would be happy to discuss your case any time in person or over the phone to explain in more detail.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47257219)

Your response should just say, "This is a review page for Karma Sushi and not my legal practice. I will not address this, or any, specific legal case in this forum. My firm has handled many thousands of personal injury cases and secured hundreds of millions in settlements for our clients."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47259033)

Review:

Just another law practice that doesn't care they push out volume 0 quality, skip and go with a smaller more attention to detail firm

Reply:

We don't have any clients by the name of Errol. However, based on the timing of this post and the conversation we had with a client the day before this post, we believe we know who this client is. This was an unfortunate situation where the at fault party did not have a large policy. We received the entire policy limits for the client and the defendant had no assets to pursue. Even if the client had 10 other lawyers there was nothing left to get and every single available dollar was won in this case. We pride ourselves on attention to detail, customer service, and being extremely aggressive. I provide my clients my cell phone number, I respond to texts and emails on nights and weekends, and I personally work on every case in the office. I reached out to the client to discuss his comments and see what else we could do for him, but he did not respond.

CSLG

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#47259793)

David H.

Granada Hills, CA

0496

Jun 27, 2024 Previous review

You only know how good a company is when you have a problem and see how they deal with it.

Yesterday, 6-26-2024 we had a meeting for fee arbitration and [CSLG] refused to have a mediator decide whether or not he over charged me. (I believe it's called Binding arbitration)

I had to contact the Beverly Hills bar association again to get another date to hopefully get the issue resolved. (The first time I had to pay $890 just to get yesterday's meeting)

[CSLG] thinks his fee was fair. I disagree pointing out his contingency fee agreement I feel he overcharged me by $12,000. All I want is a neutral third party to hear both sides and decide who is correct.

[CSLG] Law doesn't want a third party to decide and is using the fact that they know how the law works better than me to their advantage.

The service I received in my opinion was just ok. Nothing special here. They over charged me by saying the entire case was worth their charge of 45% when $100,000 of the case was decided fast and without issues and I should have only been charged 33%.

The settlement was for $180,000 [CSLG] Law kept $81,000 and paid me $66,100. Even in the price breakdown they charged me $300 for costs when their own fee schedule says they would only charge $250 for costs.

CSLG

Business Owner

Jul 1, 2024

I am so sorry that you disagree with our office on the fees charged. It is our goal to always make clients happy. And on your case we fought very hard to get the settlement from $100,000 to $180,000.

However, the retainer was very clear. If ANY part of the case is litigated or mediated, our fees increase for the entire case. Since the case was mediated, our fees are charged accordingly. This is how every personal injury attorney structures their fees. In fact, we have done over 9,000 cases and never had a client disagree with this language in our retainer. Moreover, this additional work and mediation resulted in you receiving nearly double the settlement amount.

We litigated your case very aggressively and you did not bring up any fee issue for nearly a year after the case settled. At the time of the settlement you were provided a breakdown of the fees, costs, and disbursement and you thanked us for our hard work. In fact, you even brought treats to our office for the staff to thank us for working on your case.

Additionally, even though we disagree on the fees, we agreed to have a neutral third party arbitrator hear the dispute. However, it is not required that this third party's decision be binding. We held the hearing on June 24 and prior to the arbitrator issuing their decision, you canceled the arbitration. We were present and willing to hear the arbitrators ruling.

If you have any questions, you call call [sic] our office any time and I am happy to chat with you personally. I also believe you have my cell phone number and you can text me any time. Once again, I'm so sorry we couldn't make you happier, however, it seems as though you were happy with the results for almost a year and you thanked us numerous times for doing a great job on your case.

On a final note, the $300 cost was the cost of mediation for your case. The $250 administrative fee per our retainer was waived and you were never charged it.

David H.

Granada Hills, CA

0496

Jul 2, 2024 Updated review

Why is [CSLG] afraid of Binding arbitration?

The retainer is not clear in this case. There was 2 different matters in this case that require 2 different fees. The $100,000 qualifies for the 33% fee where the $80,000 qualifies for the 45% fee.

If [CSLG] was so sure that he didn't over charge me then he would have no problem with a neutral third party arbitrate this issue. The cost for arbitration is paid for by me not [CSLG].

I canceled the mediation on June 24th NOT ARBITRATION because I was under the impression that we were there for arbitration. We already spoke about his issue and [CSLG] was clear that he wasn't going to change his mind. Mediation would just be a waste of time.

I spoke only with [likely Paralegal Mohammed tp] because [CSLG] was too busy to take my call. [likely Paralegal Mohammed tp] told me that I would have to pay the fee at the Beverly Hills bar association if I wanted to pursue this further. (I did)

All I want is closer on this issue but [CSLG] seams to need the extra $12,000 really bad.

Customer service doesn't matter here. Be very cautious if you hire this firm. They are your best friend until it comes to your payout. They control the money and will fight you for every penny.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#48572045)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#48572135)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#48572183)

There are two different claims at issue; the third-party claim which is generally limited to the policy limits of the at fault party. And then there is the first party uninsured/uninsured motorist claim against the client's insurance carrier.

They got the $100,000 policy from the schlep that hit their client prelitigation which is universally limited to 33%. They then moved to compel arbitration against the client's first party UM/UIM insurance and went to mediation (which pumps the attorneys fees to 45%). They then stuck their client with the full 45% in attorneys fees for the gross recovery across two cases, resulting in a net gain of about $18,000 for CSLG. Hey, but they waived the $250 admin costs, right?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#48572260)

according to chandler, the contract says the client pays the full 45% in this scenario

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#48572272)

Two different claims should have been adjudicated on two different fee schedules, and two different attorney agreements. IMO, CSLG should have only recovered in quantum meruit (hourly) from the UM/UIM claim if he did not have a separately delineated attorney agreement.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#48572297)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#48572324)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5471025&forum_id=2Elisa#49160704)