My family hired Heshmati and Associates at the recommendation of a friend who had a great…read moreexperience. Unfortunately it was the biggest mistake we made. We really regret not sticking with our usual attorney.
My mom was hit by a speeding truck while the driver was running late to work in February '23. She was hit in the rear side, and her SUV was declared a total loss.
We never had the pleasure of speaking to our attorney, the case is closed and we still have no idea who represented our case aside from a name. There was no guidance from him, we never spoke with him, never met with him, no updates on what he was working on, what was happening with our case, nothing. Our only point of communication during this case was his with his secretary.
Here was our experience: Shortly after our insurance paid for the value of our totaled SUV, we got a call from our attorneys secretary that both parties had accepted 50% fault, and she was offered a small settlement. If she didn't want to accept that, she would need to take the other party to court. She was very short, matter of fact, and wanted a quick answer. My mom said sure, that was fine, nobody wants to go to court and if both parties accept 50% liability and the case is closing then that's fine. There was no guidance from our attorney, no chance to speak with him, etc.
Fast forward to last week and we received a letter in the mail stating that the other party is now suing for more money, and that we would be responsible to pay his additional expenses out of pocket if he wasn't happy with the amount the insurance offered him. Panicked my mom took the letter to the office, the new secretary read it and said "oh it's nothing, they just want to know if you have another insurance. Just sign it and send it back stating you don't have other insurance." My mom said but it says he might sue me and I'll have to pay out of pocket? The Secretary said "your case is already closed so just sign it and send it back." So we did.
Today we received a letter again, stating that the opposing party didn't accept the first offer and our insurance will try to settle with them, but if the opposing party still doesn't like the offer, they will continue to personally sue my mom and she'll be responsible to pay out of pocket and hire an attorney to represent her. What?! Why did our attorney close our case and leave us to fend for ourselves with the same situation?
Honestly, our whole experience has been horrible and now we feel that our attorney has left us scrambling, trying to figure out what to do and needing to possibly hire another attorney. Our previous attorney was always the one to call us with updates, give us options, and make recommendations. That's why we hire attorneys, right? Because we don't know the ins and outs of legal matters and we need guidance. We are left stressed out, feeling abandoned, and dismissed. We didn't feel like anyone cared about us or our case. This was our personal experience.
