Complaint Review: Law Offices of Eugene Kinsey - Seal Beach Select State/Province

Contacted this attorney who quoted me a $1000 fee In August 2012.

He called the case "a slamdunk." It was.

Three weeks after the suit was filed, by the end of November, judgment by default was awarded.

I began calling at Thanksgiving time, trying to send  funny messages "Gene,  it's Thanksgiving, throw me a bone."

After about six phone calls and a few text messages, (I got to be very friendly with his answering service) & email, lo and behold Mr. Kinsey called with a promise to check it out.

Remember: by this time the judgment had been rendered, was waiting to be collcted, and the debtor was still in sight.

The holidays came and went, January, February: "Gene, have a heart and tell me what's going on with my case!" was my message, one of at least a dozen I left. It took him about three weeks to respond, once again assuring me that he would check and see what was going on down there.

Easter, Mother's Day "Gene, please see if the judgment has come down yet, I want to get this "mother" while he s still around." No response at all.

All along I was able to verify that my debtor was in place. However, I noticed at the end of May that he appeared to have moved.

Finally mid-June, after receiving a form letter from Mr. Kinsey infoming all he was moving his offices, I barraged him with phone calls.

Mr. Kinsey was more than happy to tell me all about how busy he band with his volunteer activities and finally admitted that he had not really checked and he would do it the following week.

By the end of that week I had the judgment in my hand and was furious that it had taken so long for him to even bother to find it.

I let  Mr. Kinsey know how unhappy I was with his service.

In subsequent emails Mr. Kinsey stated that he "guessed his mistake"  was assuming that that the courts were going to mail the judgment to him.

Then he told me that he wanted me to be happy and he would return the $1000 fee, because he "does not need the money."

He also offered to help me collect, and then proceeded to give me reasons why he couldn't start to work on it until the next week. In the same conversation he told me that I would have to "be there in the middle of the night" with a sheriff to identify the debtor. He also ordered me to buy a background check online which I did, for 20 bucks.

After lookinh around I realized that I could sell the judgment and be done with the whole matter.

When I informed Mr. Kinsey of my decision, he walked back his offer to refund my fee, informing me he was going to have to "review his files to see how much time he actually put in on the case."

In this public forum I challenge Mr. Kinsey to even locate the files from my case.

He blamed the court system and the budget cutbacks for his neglect to make phone calls or a personal visit to find out what was happening.

But it was obvious to both of us that Eugene Kinsey, my hired attorney, had made ZERO attempt to locate the judgement from November 2012 until June 2013, though he had been assuring me for eight months, he had not.

Please, Do yourself a favor, take your time when you're looking for an attorney, if he doesn't keep office hours, if he doesn't return your phone calls within 24 hours the first couple of contacts, find someone who will.

And pay attention to reviews! If you dig deep enough - despite the probability that Mr. Kinsey has had a reputation compvery bury them - you will find several recent reviews mentioning that Mr. Kinsey is very good at collecting fees but very casual about your legal & fiduciary interests.

If you go to Mr. Kinsey's website, you will see a picture of him from about 30 years ago.

Perhaps back then he was a man of integrity. If you hire him be prepared to have about a 15 to 1 ratio of your phone calls: his response.

It's apparent that he does not give a good gosh darn about his clients, especially "the small potatoes" ones like me.