Suit Claims Lawyer Loudly Called Ex-Client a Deadbeat in Public Encounter
A former client claims in a defamation lawsuit that his lawyer yelled at him and called him a deadbeat during an encounter at a Lowe’s home improvement store in Florida.
The suit claims Ocala, Fla., lawyer Henry Ferro had previously made harassing phone calls over a disputed bill for representation of the plaintiff’s son in a 2007 burglary case, Ocala.com reports.
Plaintiff Ron Butler claims he paid Ferro a flat fee of $3,500, and that was the entire bill. But Ferro has been demanding $14,000 for work on the case, which ended in a plea bargain, the suit says. There was no signed fee agreement, according to Ocala.com.
The complaint alleges Butler and Ferro found themselves standing in the same checkout line at Lowe’s on August 18, when Ferro started yelling. The suit accuses Ferro of telling the cashier that Butler “was a deadbeat who does not want to pay his debts.”
Ferro didn’t comment when contacted by Ocala.com. Tania Alavi, a lawyer who represented a co-defendant, told the publication that $14,000 was not an excessive fee, based on the issues in the case.
