Unable to Reach When Needed
Kenneth Walton
Avvo Review
After reading satisfied client reviews and having had a great consultation myself with Kenneth Walton, I completed a retainer payment to him of $5,000 via electronic funds transfer on 6/18/19 to retain him as my lawyer for foreclosure defense and possible bankruptcy assistance. Once the retainer was paid in-full he ceased communication with me, never performing any legal work on my behalf. To date, he has not returned any of my calls since receiving said retainer,
nor responded to any of my requests for a refund.
On 6/18/19 I emailed Mr. Walton to let him know that I had completed the $5,000 retainer payment to him and informed him that one of the owners of our property in foreclosure had been served by our bank. He did not respond to that email. Prior to my completing the retainer payment he was responsive.
Between 8/10/19 and 8/17/19, after having been served in my foreclosure (and with my stress mounting), I tried to contact Mr. Walton one or more times daily by calling his office, cell, by email, and by text, leaving several urgent messages. On at least 3 occasions I spoke with his assistant, Kiara, who only told me Mr. Walton was “away from the desk,” or “out of the office.” She told me she was in touch with him and would have him call me back; he never returned any calls. I asked Kiara if I had reached her at an off-site answering service; she assured me she was Mr. Walton’s assistant, was physically located in his office, and was actively in touch with him. He didn’t return any of my many calls and I haven’t spoken with Mr. Walton since June 2019.
On 8/16/19, I emailed Mr. Walton terminating him as my lawyer and asked that he please refund the retainer fee paid him, but to date he has not responded to that or subsequent requests, nor returned any of my calls.
On the afternoon of 8/21/19 Mr. Walton sent me a text apologizing for being "out-of-pocket," explaining he had been “recovering from an injury” and asked if he could call me around 8pm that evening. I promptly responded affirmatively to his text, but he did not call. At 10:39pm that same evening he again texted me, apologizing for not calling, explaining he “got super backed up” and that he “would call me tomorrow.” Again, he did not call me the next day either and has not since.
I certainly understand misadventure happens as I retained him to assist with my own foreclosure dilemma. While I empathize with sustaining an injury, apparently Mr. Walton had no client system of communication, direction, backup, nor anyone covering my case for him while he may have been indisposed. No paralegal, assistant, or law partner has ever contacted me, nor did anyone from his office inform me of his unavailability. In my legal predicament this is unacceptable. After we'd been process served by my foreclosing bank I contacted another attorney.
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