Florida Law Firm FARAH, FARAH & ABBOTT, P.A. Overcharges Hundreds of Unsuspecting Clients

Released on = September 30, 2005, 1:30 pm

Press Release Author = Jeffrey R. Hill

Industry = Law

Press Release Summary = Florida lawyer Jeffrey R. Hill reports that shortly after he was hired by the Jacksonville law firm of FARAH, FARAH & ABBOTT, P.A. (a/k/a "The Law Offices of Eddie Farah") in 2004, he learned the firm was regularly charging and collecting clearly excessive costs from its personal injury clients without their
knowledge. According to Mr. Hill, “The firm was routinely 'padding' costs charged to clients and had been doing so for several years. The overcharges were frequently $300 or more per case and the firm required clients to sign settlement statements certifying they agreed with the inflated costs before any portion of their settlement proceeds would be paid to them. The firm’s contingency fee contracts,
accounting records and settlement statements clearly document its overcharging practices.”

Press Release Body = Sometimes, hopefully rarely, people are victimized by someone they turned to when they were vulnerable and needed help. Taken advantage of by someone they trusted to protect their interests. Deceived by someone they had every reason to think they could trust – by someone they should have been able to trust.

Discovery of such betrayal shakes our faith. Even more so when it occurs within the sanctity of an attorney-client relationship. And still more so if the duplicity becomes so commonplace at a law firm that it's simply dismissed as a routine business practice.

Florida lawyer Jeffrey R. Hill reports that shortly after he was hired by the Jacksonville law firm of FARAH, FARAH & ABBOTT, P.A. (a/k/a "The Law Offices of Eddie Farah") in 2004, he learned the firm was regularly charging and collecting clearly excessive costs from its personal injury clients without their knowledge. According to Mr. Hill, “The firm was routinely 'padding' costs charged to clients and had been doing so for several years. The overcharges were frequently $300 or more per case and the firm required clients to sign settlement statements certifying they agreed with the inflated costs before any portion of their settlement proceeds would be paid to them. The firm’s contingency fee contracts, accounting records and
settlement statements clearly document its overcharging practices.”

Mr. Hill states he resigned from FARAH, FARAH & ABBOTT, P.A. in October 2004 because his discovery of its overcharging practices presented him with irreconcilable conflicts of interest as an attorney representing its clients. “In my professional judgment, the firm’s clients must be informed of its practice of misappropriating
funds from similarly situated clients. Without that information, clients cannot make informed decisions concerning the law firm they choose to entrust with their legal representation. On the other hand, disclosure of such information would expose my employer and its principals to risk of financial, professional and criminal sanctions. These unavoidable circumstances created a conflict of interest
requiring my immediate resignation.”

Mr. Hill considered the conflict of interest sufficiently urgent to forego giving a traditional two-weeks notice. As he describes the quandary, “I couldn’t very well say here’s two weeks notice of my resignation because you have been defrauding your clients and I’ve reported you to the State Bar. I didn’t think that would be a workable situation. What would I do for the two weeks, inform the client that the
firm was defrauding other clients, or keep my mouth shut and—and--and violate my obligations to the client?”

Why then is Mr. Hill now speaking up publicly about FARAH, FARAH & ABBOTT, P.A.? He explains, “It’s been almost a year since I first reported the firm’s overcharging practices. It overcharged hundreds of unsuspecting clients over a period spanning several years and the combined misappropriated funds are estimated at several hundred thousand dollars. City of Jacksonville, Duval County and State of Florida agencies and officials have been astonishingly apathetic about investigating. Defrauded clients remain unaware they are owed the return of their money. It's hard to have faith in a system that allows attorney misconduct to go unacknowledged and uncorrected even after it's been identified. Plainly stated, justice hasn’t been
served and nobody seems too concerned about it.” Hill further reflects, “Although I’ve been a lawyer for over seventeen years, my experience with FARAH, FARAH & ABBOTT, P.A. almost makes me wonder if I’m naive in believing the misuse of client funds
to be among the worst offenses a lawyer can commit.”

If you believe you may be among those who were overcharged by FARAH, FARAH & ABBOTT, P.A., you are urged to immediately contact The Florida Bar at 850-561-5600.

Web Site = http://home.comcast.net/~email4hill/wsb/index.html

Contact Details = Jeffrey R. Hill
Florida Bar # 0833517
10200 Belle Rive Blvd #166
Jacksonville, FL 32256
904-629-6999