Need urgent advice on problem with old company/ lawyer.

F

Feb2002Case

Registered Users (C)
Friends,
My previous company did not pay one of the bills to my attorney and now my attorney is threating to start "COLLECTION ACTION", if I do not pay amount in 15 days. This attorney is my previous company's attorney and I never hired him to do any work for me. When I left my previous company he had sent an email to my previous company asking responsibility of the bill to which company responded positively (meaning agreed to pay the bill). But they did not pay the bill. My questions are

1. What does "we will start Collection Action" mean?
2. Am I really liable to pay this bill? (I never signed any agreement)

In short what should I do? Should I give up and pay even though its not right or should ignore his threat?

Please respond.

Filed 485 in Feb2002 and still waiting....
 
Feb2002GCase"

Be realistic.... You are the beneficiary. You need the GC more than your old employer needed you, more than the attorney needs your money. This is not the time or the battle, where for YOU to make it a legalistic case. If you think you never signed an agreement or contract with the attorney, then your old empplyer has all the right to revoke its I-140. You don't own the I-140. Are you out of this world?? Be prepared to compromise and there should be ways to negotiate, right?
 
Yes old emplyer can revoke I140 but will this do any harm to me?

Should I pay the bill even though its not my responsibily.
This bill is for EAD/AP renewals.
I was ready to file renewals myself thus saving on attorney fees but my old company wanted to use attorney for the same and discouraged me to file myself. They agreed to pay the bills as per company policy.

I am interested in knwoing what harm can attorney do to me with this "Colleaction process"?

On what basis attorney can start action against me?

Should not he start action against my old company rather than me since only agreement he has is with that company?
 
This may screw up only your credit report

This may screw up only your credit report.
If you plan to buy a house/car this will be a problem since you will have "collection" in your credit report.
If you don't want to pay the bill do the following:

1. write a letter to attorney, explaining your position
2. write a letter to employer, explaining your position
3. Make copies of both letters
4. send originals using service with delivery confirmation
5. keep the dellivery confirmation reciepts
6. Monitor your credit report at all 3 credit agencies
7. if you see a collection record in your report, call them and send all documentation gathered in steps 1-5 to agency which shows this record.

A lot of hassle, but I guess you owe about $1000 so it worht the trouble.
In any case it is a good idea to monitor your credit report, just in case.
 
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How much amount your Lawyer is asking you for ? It should be a small amount. If it is less than $1000, i would suggest that you better pay it off to avoid all the hassles (infact most of the people pay themselves to the lawyer for EAD and AP renewels). But if the amount is more than $1000, then just ignore him. He will report it to a collection agency. Just take your credit report after 4 or 5 months and if you find any collection item, ask the credit agency to remove it. A simple letter is enough. It is upto the lawyer to prove that you really owe him money and i am sure he can't prove it.
 
Feb2002Case

When your attorney said he will start the collection action, he means that he will forward the delinquent amount that the amount is owe to a collection agency. This, you don't want happen for it will end up impacting your credit scores and 'may' work against you when you decide to get a loan and/or credit card in the future.

I am curious as to how your attorney is going to claim that you are the one owing the money instead of your company since it was your company entering into the contract with him, isn't it? You didn't sign any contracts with your lawyer, did you? What about signing anything with your company stating you are responsible for any monetary owed to your lawyer? But, if the amount is fairly small compared to the huge hassle you are about to embark, just go ahead and pay the lawyer. Let us know what happened....
 
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I guess by law you are not supposed to pay your Attorney for the GC, bcoz GC is sponsered by your X-Company..

If your company revokes you I-140 never mind, bcoz your are already using AC-21 and working with your new company..

It's upto you..

It's better if the amount is small settle this mess with your attorney..
 
If you have never signed anything with your previous company or attorney, that you will be partly or fully responsible for the bill, then you should not worry about it. Check your Agreement with your employer also. This is very important if you want to fight against it. We have a clause with our employer saying that "if you stay 6 months after getting gc, 50% of your gc expenses will be reimbursed". So if you have these kind of clauses, probably it is tough to fight.
Otherwise, you are not liable to what ever the lawyer fees.
Someone said, you are getting your gc, so you have to pay the fee. I strongly disagree that. By sponsoring gc, no one is doing favor to us, they are doing favor to themselves. If you don't a job, they will fire you, regardless of where you stand with your gc. So don't think about employers, if you don't want to pay. Don't pay. It depends on how he treated you when you were a employee.

And also tell your attorney saying that you never agreed to pay the bill and tell them that if they are going to the collection agency, you might file a law suit for harassing you for the thing you are not responsible. First of all ask them on which basis they are coming after you. Ask them for a authentic proof.
 
gcgcgcgc Thanks a lot for your advice.

I never signed any contract with my attorney.

I had a contract with my previous company that "if I leave within 1 year after GC process is started, I have to pay the attorney fees."

I stayed with that company for 2 years after labour was filed. So where do I stand now?
 
I am not sure

but you may have signed the G-28 form authorizing this attorney to represent your case. So even if you do not have a contract on the financial terms, I think he can use the G-28 against you.

Again, I have no legal understanding especially here, it is better you have a talk with the attorney and your previous employer on the next steps.
 
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