H. Wayne Graves Attorney ripoff, possibly blew my case, stole $500.00 and disappeared Johnson City Tennessee
I was injured while lifting at work in August of 2005. (In September 2005 my company sent me to a doctor they had "in their pocket" at Well At Work in Findlay OHIO, a Dr. Habib, who looked at but did not touch the hernia, after leading me to believe she was really going to help me, to "write down everything i could remember" on the 10 page report, then only gave me 5 pages of the report when i asked for copies... her diagnosis was, after asking me every quesion in the book, to tell me that i am 40 years old, that everyone falls apart when they turn 40 years old, i have a hernia because i am 40 years old. The company won't let me get a second opinion at a work comp doctor because they say they have a doctor's report that says my injury is not work related. that is another issue, however.
now, back to the lawyer...)
In Nov 2005 i was home, and my nephew's neighbor Cora told me about an attorney that she knew, H. Wayne Graves from Johnson City, TN (she actually goes to AA meetings with him)and gave me his number. She said he was very good at workman comp. The number she gave me was 423-929-7338, which is the number on his card. His cell phone number is listed as 423-747-3200. I tried for a week to contact him. When he finally called me back, my caller ID on my cell phone confirmed that he had called me from the number ending in 7338. My phone records also reflect that as well. Thus began the nightmare.
He began to tell me what i should do, and to fax to him my report of the injury. But before i could get his fax number, he "had to go" and i could not contact him again until mid-February when i was home again. All i could do was leave messages on his business and cell phones. Once he learned i was home again, then he finally returned my call. We arranged a time to meet at his home on Mistletoe Ct in Johnson City, TN, on Feb 23rd 2006, but he made sure I also understood he only had 45 minutes to talk to him. His office is in his basement.
He is a heavy smoker and i coughed like crazy while in his office, so we moved outside. I presented my case, he presented me with a contract, he asked for $500.00 to retain his services, and that was the last time i heard from him except for March 04th 2006 when he finally returned my call to tell me that he hadn't done anything yet. He said he wanted the information i was supposed to send him by email, I said I had sent him several emails beginning on Feb 23rd, ending on March 02nd. He hadn't seen them yet, and said he would get his girlfriend to pull them for him.
That was our last contact.
He knows I am on the road and the only feasible way of contacting me is through phone or email. He has failed to do either.
On March 10 and 11 i called him several times to get a status report, but he was unreachable. On March 17 and 18 i called him several more times to get a status report but he was unreachable. On the 18th i left a message on his phone that he was fired for breach of contract and failure to perform. I also sent an email to that effect to him. I told him to call me to make arrangements to return my $500 and sent emails with that same request. My emails were cc'd to a number of people, including the District Attorney, so they are aware of what he is doing. After he failed to respond, I gave him 4 email notices and 2 phone messages that i would be sending someone who would be duly authorized by me to retrieve my money. Those 2 people arrived at his house/office on April 08, 2006 and though he was home, he failed to answer his door. I sent him an email, then left a phone message, both saying that he left me no choice but to seek the revocation of his law license if that is all the better he can treat me.
He called me 5 times in the next 15 minutes, but i did not answer the phone. He had his chance for leniency. I sent him a "Cease and Desist" email, ordering him to stop calling me. I received 5 more calls from him over the next 3 hours while i was on the phone with my new attorney, who is positive that Wayne will lose his law license over this.
On April 10th, 2006 at 3:10 pm eastern daylight time i received a call from Wayne's girlfriend, calling my cell phone to harrass me, blocking the number (it was the number ending in 7338) and i asked the individual to identify herself 3 times before i hung up on her. A coworker heard my end of the converation, and called her boyfriend who is in upper level security who told me how to find out what the blocked number was. (It's been a long time since I was in law enforcement, before the advent of the PC)
I received 3 more calls from the number ending in
7338 during the day, unblocked these times, as i was trying to make calls to the clerk of court about filing misdemeanor phone harrassment charges against both Wayne and his girlfriend. I also called the Distict Attorney's office again (I had talked to them last week about Wayne) and filled them in again today.
A neighbor of Wayne's whom I know can verify that there has been a lot of wierdness and domestic disputes at his house over the years, made the statement, "how many lawyers do you know who operate out of their house?"
Looking for an attorney? Can I recommend to you someone?
Retaliation? He better not even think of it. You don't steal $500 from me, and get away with it.
John
Erwin, Tennessee
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Attorneys and Lawyers
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Philip
elizabethton,Tennessee,
Afghanistan
My final words about Wayne... not quite what you'd expect... just facts and a well-wish at the end.
#5Author of original report
Fri, August 10, 2012
1.) He operates his BUSINESS OFFICE out of his HOUSE because he lost his other office years ago. Not completely uncommon, however. A few lawyers are working from their houses these days to reduce costs, if that is the reason they are working out of their house. So his claim that I sent men to his house and that scared his little son... is bull.
Because that I was gone for two months at a time, I had asked some church friends to help me. Two soft-spoken friends of mine from -church- went by his office to get my deposit that I told him by phone message and by email that they were coming to recover my deposit from him. They did NOT BANG ON HIS DOOR as he claims, they simply knocked, while he hid in his office.
My job had me out all over the US and Canada and I was RARELY ever home, and my friends agreed to go together so there were witnesses when he answered the door, which he didn't ever answer, he just hid in his office. A deacon from my church lives across the street from Wayne who has spilled a lot of knowledge to me that I will contain until such time that I might need it- hopefully never.
2.) He was hired to REPRESENT me, not "investigate" my case. He was hired to call then write my company to get documents. How would that make him uncomfortable? Is he afraid to do his job? Did it scare him to have to call my company? Yes they were huge, but they are not God. It shouldn't scare him, he's an attorney!
3.) He took $500 for a WORKMAN'S COMP case. That's not the way you do that. No money was supposed to pass hands until the end of the case.
4.) He went STRAIGHT TO MY BANK AND CASHED THE CHECK INSTEAD OF RUNNING IT THROUGH HIS ACCOUNT. My bank gave me photos of Wayne walking up to the counter, cashing the check, and walking out.
It was from that point that WE MADE ZERO CONTACT with me except to call me once when he knew I'd come in off the road, just to tell me he'd done nothing. That was the only contact I had with him until he sent me a check to refund the money he'd received from me, just after he contacted the TN State Bar to tell on himself what he had done to me. which might have been one of the three things that got his license removed in 2006.
5.) SUSPENSIONS: According to the Bar Association, he lost his license for a "medical condition" that caused him to not be able to "call or respond to his clients." That report is here: (Avvo.com) "This attorney has been disciplined by a state licensing authority, in 2006."
http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/37604-tn-harold-graves-1707260.html#licenses
And if you don't take Avvo's accurate reporting look directly at the TN Board of Professional Responsibility's own "lite" report about it at:
http://www.tbpr.org/NewsAndPublications/BoardNotes/Summer2006/DisciplinaryActions.aspx
Wayne is #6 down the list.
6.) It seems his troubles with getting money and not doing anything has gotten him in more hot water in 2011, when a woman who gave him money for time-specific work and he failed to perform again. HER RIPOFFREPORT IS FOUND HERE:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/lawyers/h-wayne-graves/h-wayne-graves-steeling-retain-76ebg.htm
She says, "CALL THE PROFESSIONAL BOARD OF RESPONSIBILITY, THEY CAN GIVE YOU AN EARFUL."
He says in his rebuttal to her claim, "I was not found guilty of doing coke."
There was another report by a man who also lost money to Wayne, it was showing for a long time right up until the time Wayne made his first ridiculous rebuttal to my old report. It has disappeared, and can be found by ROR admins and forwarded to you.
7.) Again, the people I know who know him say he is trying to fly right, so i am not going to give all the information I have right here, right now. I will only give the easily found materials on the internet. A woman getting a divorce has also filed a ROR complaint against him at about the same time that I was told he was trying to fly right. She went through almost the identical run-around with him that I had- no returned calls, no contact, refusal to return money not earned... I won't bother posting the link, because I don't know her.
Wayne deserves the benefit of the doubt to either hang himself or prove us all wrong, and I pray he finds Christ- and himself- and will "fly right." So, with this little bit of info, I will leave it alone, I'm through with it. I have other problems to deal with now such as death threats coming at me from individuals in the area where Wayne operates, who are remotely connected to Wayne. I am not saying he is behind it, I am saying he knows those responsible for the threats against me- but that will be another RipOffReport for a later time, and Wayne will not be involved in that. Like I said, this is it. No more about Wayne.
Philip
elizabethton,Tennessee,
Afghanistan
Reasearching for rebuttal to H. Wayne Graves rebutt
#5Author of original report
Wed, October 26, 2011
I was amazed at the accusations, feigned innocence and ignorance of the rebuttal by H. Wayne Graves. I am researching for a bombshell rebuttal, and will post it when complete. it may take me several months to get it done since there will be so much information. I noticed when i did a Ripoff report search on his name that someone else was victim, as well. i understand from people who are close to him that he has changed in his ways a lot since he got his license back, so I am not out to destroy the man's business. But... I will answer this fable-ridden, fairytale rebuttal of his.
Lawyer
johnson city,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Miscommunication
#5REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, August 28, 2011
This gentleman hired me to INVESTIGATE his alleged injury. I was not provided with documentation and he started demanding that I write letters that I was not profesionally comfortable with. Although I worked on his case a couple of hours, I gave him his money back and charged him NOTHING for the work I did. He sent guys to my house banging on the door and frightened my child. I thought it was best to give him his money back and let him find another lawyer he could communicate with. I don't represent clients by text message or email. I regret we could not get on the same page because I would have liked to help him if possible. Thank you for letting me respond.
Philip
elizabethton,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
H. Wayne Graves Attorney ripoff, positive outcome
#5Author of original report
Sat, July 28, 2007
Here is a photo that shows what happened when I told him by return receipt requested certified letter that I was going to have his license reviewed for suspension, and the letter was forwarded to another attorney I hired for this purpose to carry through with that action and also I was prepared to send a copy to the TN state Bar, and though I put their address on the letter, I hadn't sent it just yet. This all transpired about the date on the check in the photo.
Before I sent the letter, I had called Wayne's office to tell him I was going to do that, try to get his license removed, and left a message on his answering machine, as I had to do everytime I called since he never answered and never called back.
He had his girlfriend call me, blocking the office number and had her scream at me for about 2 minutes as I kept asking her who it was, before I hung up on her, only she didn't know that she had called my cellphone, and blocking the office number only hid it from me until I received my bill... and I considered filing a police report against her for the call, but I didn't have to when...
Wayne called and wrote the person at the TN State Bar Association who determines if he gets to keep his license about the problem, and spilled the beans on himself. I hadn't sent the letter yet, and apparently the guy asked Wayne all sorts of questions about it as though I'd actually sent in the letter. I'm sure he was amused that a 50 year old attorney was acting so childish...
Within a few hours of his call to the disciplinary person, he had put a lie-filled letter and a check for $500 in the mail to me. Problem solved. I am going to photograph the letter and load it in the 3rd installment here, while the check itself will be loaded now on this second installment.