Look at this tale, then, and think twice about paying a lawyer to fix a ticket for you.
Local attorney Diana Minella sent letters to thousands of people who got traffic tickets promising to settle their case for a fee.
She's accused of taking their money and not taking care of their tickets.
San Antonio's municipal court overflowed Tuesday with hundreds of people who thought their traffic citations were being handled by their attorney.
...
[Janie] Churbie paid attorney Diana Minella $200, plus the amount of her fines, to take care of her case. But the lawyer never did that.
Now, Janie is out of that money and still has to pay the fines and court costs to clear her driving record.
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"I paid her $452 so she could take care of all of this and all I had to do was my defensive driving test." Zeke Ramirez paid Minella to clear his record. Minella only made a partial payment of $5. Zeke did not know that.
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Back in court, lawyers from the San Antonio Bar Association volunteered to help the angry motorists. [sic] With even more still unaware their tickets are still hanging over their heads.
"What we had set for today was in the neighborhood of 700 to 1,000 cases," said Judge Bull. "We anticipate there is a larger volume out there of people that maybe don't know."
(from WOAI-TV)
Next time, if you get a traffic ticket, think about just mailing a check. It's probably easier, and it might not cost you as much.
Oh, and kudos to the lawyers from the S.A. Bar Association that are helping clear up this mess for free. They are doing a good thing for these people.
6 comments:
Perhaps I missed it? Was there a summons for this shyster (shys'tett?) to appear before the judge, and did they mention when she will be sanctioned by the local bar?
I didn't see anything, but I certainly hope someone takes action against her. That's just plain thievery, and I would hope at least the S.A. Bar Association would do something about it.
She has already volunteerly surrendered her law license. She appears before bankruptcy court 1/26 @ 8:30a before Judge Ronald King at the post office building next to the Alamo.
sShe is not a shyster. She is a caring, gifted woman who made some business mistakes, and they were not on purpose. Who among us hasn't approached a business idea with the right intention and then made mistakes and everything took a turn for the worse. She was not out to hurt anyone. She was trying to help them. I know her well, and she meant no one any harm.
Anonymous said: "She is a caring, gifted woman who made some business mistakes, and they were not on purpose."
The article states: "What we had set for today was in the neighborhood of 700 to 1,000 cases," said Judge Bull.
That's an awful lot of business mistakes. One or two, I can imagine. Anywhere near 1,000 boggles the mind.
What a crock, Anon. Try to sell that to someone she DIDN'T screw over! I paid her and now I am paying the courts. Thanks for nothing, Diana! Funny that she had money to make campaign contributions to people I wouldn't support. Yeah, that stuff is public information. I won't be shedding any tears for her and her "business mistakes" that she ripped off people like me to fix. Bitter??? You betcha!
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