Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/29/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This company will tell you you have a strong case but all they're doing is leading you on so they can take your money. After $40,000 to this company and 7 years, they don't have the decency to call me to tell me that they lost my case and now won't even return my calls. I took them on for my federal EEOC lawsuit because they had an A+ rating from the BBB at the time I engaged them and the president of the company told me I had a strong case and that he would be able to get me disability and $80,000. How would you like that? he said. I like a nasty man with candy for a child. And at $650 an hour. And throughout this disaster I kept asking them how much will this cost? How long will this take? They would only ignore my questions and charge me at $650 an hour. I see now that they are not accredited and have only a C rating. I want more people to know that this law firm is unprofessional and unable to follow through on what they promise and they should not engage them.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/11/2024

  We wish the client goodwill, but she is misrepresenting the facts of her case and the events that occurred. This client had multiple cases and won her biggest case.  The client is upset that she did not get more money or win her other case. 
  
  At no point has this client ever been billed at a rate of $650 per hour. When she retained the firm, the Firm Presidents rate was $500 per hour, and while that rate has risen since 2015, this client has not been billed for any of his work, or billed at his hourly rate even though the President reviewed and managed her case.   None of the other attorneys in the firm bill at that rate.  Claiming that she has been charged $650 per hour is a misrepresentation, easily proven through billing records. 
  
  Despite claiming that no one will contact her, she was sent an email shortly after the decision in her case was received letting her know the result of her appeal options.  The client has called multiple times outside of business hours, when no one has been available to take her call.  Return calls have not been answered, and emails attempting to follow up have also gone unanswered. Again, we wish her well, and we are thankful we won her main case.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/18/2024

   
  Complaint: 20931396
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  1. The law firm (Melville Johnson, aka "you") misrepresent ME when you say I misrepresent you.  A long-held lawyers' defense to confuse the issue and place blame on the victim.  Won't work on me, didn't work on the Federal judge either. 

  2. You say I had multiple cases and won the biggest one.  You are completely wrong and must be thinking of some other of your poor clients.  You are so confused!  I won nothing!  I lost the $40,000 I gave YOU to protect me!

  3. I continue to get a bill for $650 AFTER the file has been filed by your office (per invoice I received).  What is this for? Either it's for work billed but not done, or you continue to bill me because I've complained rightfully to the BBB.  

  4.  I WAS ONLY CONTACTED BY YOUR FIRM (TO AN INCORRECT PHONE NUMBER) AFTER I GOT YOUR BILL AND AFTER I COMPLAINED TO THE BBB!  Your efforts to blame me are not working....

  5.  AGAIN, they reference that I won my main case.  I don't know who they are talking about and they need to go back and read the decision.  Pretty pathetic for a supposedly professional law firm....

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/28/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The intake lady I spoke with at the law firm claimed her name was ******* and gave me unlikely information about the cost of getting a discrimination lawyer at the firm. For example, she said you have to make at least $61,000 a year to get a lawyer, which didnt make any sense, because your salary shouldnt matter if youre being discriminated against. Then she said it cost $350 for a consultation, and anywhere from $7,000 - $23,000 to work on the case, which really didnt seem accurate, because the average payouts listed was only around $65,000 - $77,000.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/27/2022

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I hired this firm on or about September 26th. I signed a document titled "Employment contract" and the firm's owner *********************************** Johnson, signed afterwards. Prior to signing this contract, I requested to meet the attorney who would be the lead on my case in order for the attorney to know what it was I needed. I paid a $7500 retainer. Since the contract detailed a range of names, positions, and hourly rates ($700-$75), I requested to know who would be working on my case & what tasks these individuals would be assigned to. Since the contract stated "support staff" would be working on my case at a rate of $75/hr I expected support staff to handle administrative tasks. This was not the case. I later found out that the firm has no support staff, as told to me by their own employee. These requests were made to eliminate any potential billing issues. Even after making numerous requests to meet over a period of three weeks, the lead attorney, ************************* ******, never met with me. It became clear what her strategy was, which was to pad an invoice with frivolous charges & not to meet with me in order to determine what it was I actually needed. As expected, an invoice was sent for almost $5000 for alleged tasks & for things that I never received. Subsequently, I sent two letters to the firm disputing these charges. Even though the contract states to contact *************************** with any billing disputes, he clearly has no voice & is subjugated to a name only. ****************** who is titled Vice President and Treasurer (window dressing), only states I had to contact the specific attorney, ************************* ******. After disputing these charges, ******** withdrew from my case without any notice, which forced me to request an extension for discovery from the Judge. Weeks after withdrawing from my case, I received a 2nd invoice with bogus charges, which consumed the majority of the remaining portion of my retainer. I requested a refund, but I have yet to hear back.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/20/2022

  Dear ***/*****:
  
  This client retained our Firm on or about September 30, 2022,after consulting on September 28, 2022.  Before he retained, he requested a copy of our standard contract, which was highly unusual.  At the time he retained he specifically noted that he did not want the more junior attorneys in the firm to handle the work on his case, so the senior attorney was the lead attorney working on his case, and he was informed that the other attorneys in the firm may work on his case as needed.  Demanding the senior attorney cost him approximately $250.00 per hour more than a more junior attorney would have.  He was never told that support staff would be working on his case.  We do not typically bill for work done by support staff, or for the work and review completed by the Senior Partner, who bills at $700.00 per hour.  While support staff did complete some work on this case, the client was not billed for it. 
  
  When this client retained, he was already well into the litigation process and provided the Firm with over ***** pages of documents which had to be reviewed to ensure that the attorneys were up to speed on the case.  This client was further waiting on supplemental discovery responses from the opposing party.  The attorneys working on this case completed the following tasks:
  
  Drafting letters to the client regarding the rest of the litigation process, including taking depositions, about which he had specifically asked.;
  Reviewing approximately ***** pages of discovery to determine what information we had, what was still needed, and how best to move forward.This resulted in an approximately 15-page litigation strategy and discovery review memo being drafted;
  Reviewing a documentary record over ***** pages and drafting a Statement of Material Facts;
  Drafting a Status Memo, which outlined the current status of the case, the applicable law, and analysis of the claims to guide the process moving forward; and
  Engaging in research regarding updated case law for a specific claim which appeared to be being processed incorrectly.
  
  When this client received his monthly bill, he raised concerns and questions with nearly every item.  The Firm promptly responded to his concerns in an attempt to address them.  The client was dissatisfied with the response and continued to question the billing, claiming that we provided information he did not want and that he did not believe tasks had taken as long as they were identified to have taken.  It became clear that our representation was not a good fit and the Firm let this client know that we thought it best that he find substitute counsel and we would withdraw from the case.  After letting the client know, and ensuring that no deadlines would be missed, the Firm withdrew representation.
  
  This client did request a refund, and the Firm offered him a refund of the unused portion of his retainer, as the work done prior to withdrawing representation was necessary to the representation.  The Firm withdrew representation on October 27, 2022, and consistently engaged with this Client about his request for a refund.  We received a written request on November 15, 2022.  He was sent the refund of his unused retainer via certified mail on November 23, 2022. Tracking demonstrates that he received this refund on November 30, 2022.  In a letter dated November 30, 2022, but sent via email on December 4, 2022, this client requested his entire file, and we acted immediately to comply with this request.  We sent him as many documents as possible digitally, then copied his file to a USB Jump Drive and mailed it to him via *****.  Additionally, despite the client not specifically requesting it, we have printed a hard copy of his entire file,approximately ***** pages, and mailed it to the client via ***** at no cost to him. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/23/2022

  Greetings, 

  This response is an absolute fabrication.  This firm's business practices are unethical and fraudulent. In what business transaction is it unusual for a party to request a copy of the contract they're expected to sign beforehand?  This is just a red ******* response attempting to distract from their highly misleading contract.  As specified in said contract, this firm implies that there are "support staff" available to work on a client's case. This is absolutely false and was confirmed by an internal staff member that no such support staff exists. 

  Furthermore, **************** is clearly trying to convolute the facts. Prior to hiring this firm and immediately after hiring this firm, I requested to meet with **************** in order to inform her what tasks I needed completing for my case.  Instead of meeting to receive this direction, she took her own approach and started charging for work that I did not need.  When I pointed this out to her and the fact that she was trying to charge me hundreds of dollars for template documents, since obviously realized that I would not be the meal ticket that she thought I was going to be.  So she withdrew from the case.  **************** clearly made false statements in her response, in that lower level, fresh out of law school attorneys did work on my case.  This is clearly indicated by the different initials she put in the invoice.   I did not request that she specifically work on my case.  Considering how behind this law firm is in Title VII case law (especially damages) and the fact that they can't perform any statistical analyses (logistic regressions), ****************, expertise would have been lacking, even as a longer tenured attorney.  

  **************** is blatantly dishonest, and her only issue is that she just got caught.  She's obviously been getting away with this unethical behavior which is clearly contrary to the ***************'s Rules of Conduct.  Yes, the *************** is currently investigating **************** conduct.  Additionally, she also intentionally leaves out that the refund she is so proud to mention was for approx. $27.50.  She also leaves out the fact that these documents she is talking about were on ****** drive and did not need to be printed.  I gave her and her staff access to these documents via an online method.  Please also note, that I did not need her to go through these documents when hired because I hired this firm to close out discovery, which was not the route she took.  I've been in this field for over 25 yrs and I've never come across an attorney who was willing to distort the truth in order to cover up her misdeeds.  

  Her response is unacceptable.