Client-lawyer remediation program settles local man’s issues

Published: Updated:

NAPLES, Fla. – A Collier County man said it took weeks for his lawyer to return money he desperately needed.

Bruce Clouser filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Things got worst when he hired an attorney from Lawyer ASAP after finding the firm online.

Clouser said he asked for a refund once a lawyer continued to withdraw funds from his account even after Clouser never received a bonus check. In total, the lawyer took $1,700 in fees, Clouser said.

“From that moment on, they wouldn’t return calls. They wouldn’t return emails,” he said. “You’re running out of money in your checking account so you are getting overdraft fees.”

There is a state hotline for people having issues with lawyers called the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program, which puts residents in touch with the Florida Bar. In the last year, ACAP has accepted 21,000 requests for assistance and 5,300 filed complaints.

“We intake all the complaints throughout the state of Florida against attorneys,” Shanell Schuyler, the director of ACAP and intake, said. “If someone says ‘Hey, I can’t get my lawyer to call me back, can you help me?'” the programs works to resolve those issues.

That’s exactly what the program did for Clouser.

You can call the ACAP Hotline at 866-352-0707 or visit the program’s website for more information.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.