Can a defendant change attorney without notifying plaintiff?
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Can a defendant change attorney without notifying plaintiff?
At the pretrial hearing, the defendant almost lost her case on the spot because she was not able to represent her corporation because she was not an “officer” of the corporation. She was able to “wrangle” an attorney in the courthouse hallway to represent her at the very last second and we were given a trial date. I, (plaintiff) delivered my exhibits to the clerk and to the attorney within 8 days of hearing. I have heard nothing since then from anyone and today I got a call from a totally different attorney, wanting to discuss the case on her behalf. Shouldn’t I have been notified of the attorney swap? Can I make a case to the judge that she had no intention of keeping the “original” attorney and just pulled one over on the court? Can I even discuss this case with the “new” attorney before I have been formally notified of the swap?
Asked on December 7, 2011 under Business Law, Florida
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Good question. If the defendant has an actual attorney representing her in the case that you are writing about, custom and acceptable practice would be that you would have been served with a substitution of attorneys signed by the defendant and the attorney representing her stating the representation change. The document would also be filed with the court clerk.
Before you discuss the case with the new attorney, I would insist upon being served with the substitution of attorneys concerning the action.
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