Front Page  »  

SLO attorney sues former client

August 6, 2015
R. Morgan Holland

R. Morgan Holland

A San Luis Obispo based attorney filed a lawsuit last month against a former client for trashing his services on internet sites such as Yelp, Citysearch and Superpages. [NewTimes]

Nearly five years ago, R. Morgan Holland represented Jason Weland in a bitter divorce. According to Holland’s suit, Weland then penned at least 16 online posts claiming Holland was an unethical attorney who overcharged him.

In the suit, Holland contends he did not overcharge Weland. At the time, Weland paid Holland $26,000 for 11 months of litigation and a 40-day trial, the suit says.

In 2014, Weland lost a lawsuit disputing his legal bills. Shortly afterwards, the posts began appearing online, Holland’s lawsuit says.


Loading...
Subjects:         
Related:


10 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I totally agree with pasoparent5. Mr. Wetland does look like an angry dope.


Why did it take so long (5 years) for Mr. Wetland to start posting reviews?


Posting the same reviews over 100 times and having them taken down by Yelp, Google, or others sites because they where found to be false or did not meet with the terms of that site is the sign of someone who is obsessed.


Its good to see business owners doing something about these angry dopes posting reviews that are meant to cause harm to the business and not a honest review of that business.


0

This isn’t a large sample size of attorney ethics, but my one and only experience with an attorney started off with an estimate of $300. After the bill approached $1,000 I told the attorney to stop. I lived out of town, so I went in to the office to pay the last bill in person. The clerk wasn’t there so the attorney (who was pleasant) came out of her office to get the payment. I gave her the check and she engaged me in some chitchat, then I was on my way.


Then I received another bill for 15 minutes of time for the day I dropped off the check.


0

If you are thin-skinned with tender feelers, you should not be doing business with the public.


0

Look up the legal definitions of defamation and libel. It has nothing to do with hurt feelings but rather with tarnishing someone’s professional reputation with false statements.


Good for the attorney, he may haves tough time proving damages, though.


0

Well, you’re sorta right when you say “It has nothing to do with hurt feelings but rather with tarnishing someone’s professional reputation with false statements.” However, to win something he has to show that he suffered some economic loss as a result of the “false statements.” He’ll have a tough time with that, so this looks like bullying by somebody in a “profession” that has no qualms charging as much for a hour of his time as normal people make in a week.


0

So much for online anonymity. Maybe Weland has a case against Yelp now.


0

http://www.yelp.com/not_recommended_reviews/law-offices-of-r-morgan-holland-lc-san-luis-obispo


Mr. Weland was hardly anonymous. He actually signed his multiple reviews “Jason W.” but yelp removed most of them for violating their terms of service.


I rarely defend lawyers but Mr. Weland does make himself look like an angry dope.


0

Holland is a Santa Maria Attorney not a San Luis Obispo Attorney.


And a 40 day trial? What were they fighting over that could take 40 days of a court’s time?


I can’t imagine anyone going to a 40 day trial for just $26,000. That should have been more like $150,000. Think about it. Just the 40 days in trial at about $2,000 a day is $80,000. And then you have probably 2 years of preparation and motions to get to trial.


Remember when Stewart Jenkins was awarded $75,000 in lawyer fees for his motion on behalf of the homeless–and that was just one motion.


0

Holland has offices in both Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo, according to Google.


0

Agreed– A 40 day trial is unimaginable under these circumstances. You would be hard pressed to find a Judge that would allow that given the court’s budget crunch.


0