ComplaintsforBomar Law Firm, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  06/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We hired Bomar Law Firm to resolve a matter with the *** on 7/26/2023.They charged us $10,000.00 and have done nothing on our case for a year.I fired them and asked for my money back and they said it was non-refundable.

  

  Business response

  06/14/2024

  *************** in her 3 sentence BBB complaint makes incorrect statements that are easily shown untrue by the documents.  ***se include:
  

  1. *** incorrect statement that the agreed fee was $10,000
  2. *** incorrect statement that they paid $10,000
  3. *** implied incorrect statement that they full paid their legal fees.
  4. *** implied incorrect statement that they were not in default of the retainer agreement for failure to pay the agreed fee.
  5. *** omission that the parties agreed in written contract that the fee would be paid, and then the legal work would be done.
  6. *** omission that to this day, the legal fee has not been paid as agreed.
  7. *** omission that the Law Firm actually did perform the work, including a 34-page submission to *** to reopen the case and seek elimination of the tax debt.
  8. *** omission that Cal Bomar informed *************** that it had been filed with *** and was being processed.
  9. *** omission that Cal Bomar had provided *************** with the tracking that showed the submission to ***.
  10. *** omission that Cal Bomar informed *************** that the odds were extremely high that *** would concede the case and the debt eliminated.
  11. *** omission that *************** knew that *** would have a 3 to 4 months processing time to issue a determination letter.
  12. *** omission that *************** filed this without waiting for the *** determination, because the winning *** determination will make it even more transparent how baseless the claim is.
  13. *** omission that *************** waited until AFTER the documents were filed and processing to file this to seek the windfall of the won *** case without having to pay the agreed fee for those provided services.

  *************** takes her default of the retainer agreement and blames the firm for it, as set forth in detail below.
  

  *** asserted a debt of approximately $323,000 for individual income tax,tax year 2018.
  

  Mr. & *************** lost the case themselves prior to coming to us, receiving a Notice of Deficiency and allowing the 90 day deadline to pass without filing a Tax Court Petition. Thus, the asserted amount became like a judgment against them.

  Mr. & *************** signed our retainer agreement on July 6, 2023  (not July 26 as she indicates). This Agreement set forth the agreed terms of our representation.

  *** agreed flat fee to handle the case was $15,000 flat fee.   That fee was less than 5% of the amount in controversy.  *** fee was based on what would create an estimated 10% profit margin over expenses that the firm would pay during the case.   *** case was more difficult because clients had missed their deadline to file a Tax Court Petition.  ***refore, the case would need to be reopened and then won.   Other comparable Atlanta Tax Law Firms would have on average charged more than double what our fees were by the end of the case.
  

  Client only paid $9.900 of the agreed $15,000 flat fee.  To this day, Clients owe the Firm $5,100 that has not been paid.

  Clients statement that the fee was $10,000 and they paid $10,000 is incorrect.
  

  Neither party to a contract may unilaterally change the agreed fee amount or other agreed terms. To memorialize those agreements is the entire purpose that retainer agreements exist.

  Normally, when a client does not pay the agreed fee, the legal work is concluded once the client pays the fee.  ***re are some exceptionsif something arises that would have a hard deadline, and negative consequences if not prevented, the Firm will often take action to prevent harm to the clienteven though it can help someone cheat the Firm, if they then choose not to pay their bill in good faith.
  

  *** entire reason that almost all law firms either get a retainer up front and bill hourly against it, or get a flat fee up front, is that legal fees are notoriously hard to collect once you have completed the work and the client no longer needs your services.
  

  Regarding the attorneys assigned to the case, attorney *********************** has practiced tax law for over 20 years.   Over the last year, he obtained favorable results in more US Tax Court cases than any other attorney in ********  He has handled thousands of tax cases.

  Attorney Cal Bomar is a Former *** Chief Counsel Attorney.  He has also practiced tax law for over 20 years.   He has been attorney of record in around ***** tax cases.
  

  During the last decade, the Firm has handled more tax cases than any other Georgia law firm.   Bomar and **** are two of the best-known tax attorneys in the State of Georgia.  Both are well known by *** attorneys and other practicing tax attorneys throughout the **************
  

  *** Retainer agreement set forth the expected term of the case1 year.  *** case was never expected to be one that lasted 2 or 3 months.

  Clients did not even provide us documents that would allow us to file the action for 3 months-- until September 24, 2023.   Anything filed without those would be dismissed with an adverse determination letter.

  However, Clients still did not pay the agreed fee.

  Section 1 of the retainer agreement provides that: This Agreement describes the conditions and guidelines that will govern our relationship and, when reviewed and signed by you, and upon payment of the non-refundable flat fee, or any portion thereof, it will be a binding agreement between you and the Firm.
  

  Section 3 of the retainer agreement provides that: *** services for the above referenced matter will be provided for a flat fee of $15,000.00.  *** Firm will begin work on your case upon receipt of the fee, to be paid upon execution of this agreement.  No work on the above-referenced matter will be performed until said fee is received.  *** flat fee shall be deemed earned upon commencement of the case. 
  

  *** parties agreed in writing that attorneys would start the process when they had paid the agreed flat fee amount.  To this day, they still have not paid the agreed fee.

  Normally, the Firm would file once paid as agreed in the retainer agreement.
  

  On April 1, 2024 ********************* contacted the firm concerned that *** was sending her notices instead of us.   *** is required to send the original notice to the Taxpayer, and cc to Counsel for a Taxpayer.  ***y tend to send the cc 7 to 10 days after the original notice to the Taxpayer.  I indicated that was not a problem.
  I asked her to forward me the notice, since we did not have a copy yet.
  

  On May 4, 2024 the Firm filed a 34 page submission to ***,in order to reopen the case and compel *** to make adjustments correcting the liability.
  We have uploaded the tracking for this submission from us to ***.   If Mr. and *************** wish to agree to us uploading the *** submission to this BBB dispute, we are happy to redact social security numbers and upload italthough we dont recommend it.  For confidentiality reasons, we did not until agreement to do so to by the Swifts.  This document is also available on our portal for them to download, or a hard copy can be picked up.
  

  On May 22, 2024 ********************* forwarded me a copy of an *** preliminary collection notice that had been received. It does not give rise to *** having a right to levy (take bank accounts or wages).  ***refore, it cannot be appealed.   I responded with these facts,and asked her to make sure to send any follow up mail received from ***.
  

  *** Firm realized that *** would soon issue a Final notice of Intent to ****.  In order to protect the Swifts from levy, the Firm went ahead and filed the case, despite the retainer agreement setting forth that work would start upon the retainer being paid.  *** hope was that the Swifts would act in good faith and pay their legal bill.
  

  That did not turn out to be the case.   When *************** heard that it had been filed, and *** was expected to rule in her favor, she filed the BBB Complaint to get the added benefit of not having to pay for the legal services provided.
  

  *************** could have filed that prior to the *** submission but chose to wait until the windfall was in process, to try to seek that additional benefit.

  It is our belief that if this case were to be contested,regardless of who initiates it:
  

  1. *** Swifts will owe the remaining balance of the agreed flat fee set forth in contract within the retainer agreement.
  2. ***y will owe interest on that balance from the date due
  3. ***y will owe our attorney fees to collect that balance.

  However, regarding resolution, we are willing to do any of the following:
  

  *************** indicated that they have fired us.   We are willing to close their file and write off to $0 the unpaid balance of their agreed fee set forth in the retainer agreement.
  

  ***y could choose to have us complete the process, and agree to pay the remainder of the agreed fee ($5,100) as set forth in the retainer agreement.   If they choose that path, if we do not achieve a reduction of more than $150,000 in the debt, we will waive that remaining $5,100 fee.
  

  One thing that they may want to consider in that analysis is that *** could concede at the agent level, or they could initially be adverse and force the matter to Appeals.   *** agent would know that Appeals is overwhelmingly likely to concede the case if we or a comparable firm are handling it. However, if an Appeal is needed and they handle their own administrative appeal, they are very likely to find a way t lose their (winning) case again.
  

  We dont have a preference as to whether they wish to close the case, or for us to finish the process.  *** work is complete, other than to allow *** to issue the determination, and the potential follow up meeting with Appeals if needed.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩