Law Office of Danny Coleman, P.C.

Alpharetta, GA

Said of Roswell, GA October 10, 2009

In the summer of 2008, my wife, my daughter, and I, travelled to the Kingdom of Morocco. Delta Airlines diverted our carry-ons to Bombay, India instead of Casa Blanca, Morocco. As a result, we lost about $11,000.00 worth of property. We tried to resolve the matter directly with Delta and its partner, Royal Air Moaroc (RAM), but both these airlines failed to cooperate and compensate us for the loss of our luggage. They kept blaming each other, and they both failed to give us any resolution.

We hired the attorney, Mr. Danny Coleman, on October 27, 2008 for him to defend us against Delta and reach a settlement whereby we can get compensated fairly for the loss of our luggage. He personally promised that he would take care of this matter by charging us an initial $1,500.00 and for the remainder to be collected once the case was settled. My wife and I explained to him in clear terms that we did not have the $3,000.00 retainer fee at that time. He still said that it would be fine and that he would pursue Delta immediately and for an immediate resolution. On the same day, my wife paid him $1,000.00 through her debit card, and I, on the other hand, paid him $500.00 through my credit card. See 2 copies of the payment receipts produced in his office.

So far, all he did for us was draft a letter of complaint and mail it to Delta’s CEO, with the issue date of November 13, 2008. A few days later, my wife and I received a letter from his former co-attorney, Jessica Chapman, along with an invoice itemizing all the work-actions of his law office and which had absorbed the $1,500.00.00. She also included another invoice (request for additional retainer) asking for $750.00 before any further action on the part of his office could be taken against our case defendant(s).

Within a few days, I called her and gave her my personal credit card number for her to charge us the latter amount believing that his office was working diligently and responsibly on our case. Since then, we had not heard of any further action to justify the charging of $750.00. His office failed to provide us with any itemized bill showing any sincere effort toward settling the case with the defendant(s). During the last phone communication I had with Ms. Chapman she promised that she was going to proceed with suing Delta for the stolen luggage, which never took place until now. We are not sure why this has not happened yet, and we are disappointed to see this case taking longer than necessary. So far, it has been more than 5 months since we filed this case with his law office.

In December, Ms. Chapman mailed us a letter dated December 19, 2008, and which stated that she was resigning from his law office, and that we needed to pursue the case with Mr. Danny Coleman and her future replacement. After Ms. Chapman left, I called and left a few messages to her replacement, Sarah Cooksey, who after a couple of weeks called me and introduced herself. She expressed her readiness to assist me and my wife in seeking a fair and just settlement with Delta. She advised me to be patient and give Delta’s CEO enough time to respond.

Many weeks passed and we have not received any update from Ms. Cooksey, Mr. Coleman, or a representative of his office, and the case appears to drag on forever. In the third week of March, I called his office and talked to the operator several times asking her to have Mr. Coleman or Ms. Cooksey call me at my cell phone. I also left messages directly on Ms. Cooksey’s voicemail as well as his to which I received no response until now. The operator would always state that Mr. Coleman and Ms. Cooksey were either away or in a private meeting. This continued for a few days until I gave up on calling his office.

On March 28, 2009, we received yet another letter dated March 23, 2009 and which stated that Mr. Coleman “will require a retainer of FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($4,000.00), service on the three defendant(s), discovery and court hearings.” It adds that my wife and I contact his office “either paying this amount in full or working out a payment plan.”

At this time, I called the State Bar of Georgia and talked to Ms. D who suggested that I write him a certified letter before my wife and I could proceed with a formal complaint to seek a full refund. We immediately wrote him a letter dated April 6, 2009 expressing our grave concern at what we feel to be an unfair and unjust invoice. See copy. Four thousand dollars was unjustified and not part of the initial consultation which my wife and I had with him and Jessica Chapman. We both feel that we have paid $2,250.00 in order to get some real work done on our case. So far, all that was done by his office was compose a letter and mail it out to Delta’s CEO. We do not agree that this last demand for another retainer of $4,000.00 is rational or even legal. In the letter, we asked that he provide us with an itemized bill for the late $750.00 which I charged on my credit card. He provided us with one which is very generic. See copy of my email to him dated April 23, 2009 asking for him to call me and offer a justification, which he never did so far.

We also asked that before any further work on the part of his office is done, he, my wife, and I meet so that we can discuss our options for a resolution of our pending case against Delta. Up till now, my wife and I have not received a single call or even a reply to my email since the third week of March when I last called him several times. We have no explanation as to why he is not returning my phone calls and emails. We do not find him to be accountable for his actions as a lawyer due to his prolonged silence on our case. We regret to say that the case is being dragged on without any proper and legal due-process.

Furthermore, we keep receiving these demands for additional retainers without an effort on the part of his office to return our calls. My wife and I are asking that your institution assist us by investigating the attorney’s dishonest conduct. For the record, we have filed a complaint with the office of the State Bar of Georgia and Office of the State Bar of Georgia Petition for Fee Arbitration in order for us to reclaim our lawyer’s fees of $2,250.00. It is very apparent that Mr. Coleman has not executed his duty in accordance with the law under the Consumer Fairness Act.

Having gone through this negative experience with Mr. Danny Coleman, my wife and I googled him on the Internet. We came through reports which allege the same experience we have had with him. Although my wife and I filed a formal complaint to the Georgia State Bar, the latter decided in his favor in spite of our list of proofs against his malpractices. Please, assist us in this matter. We are looking forward to your advice. Sincerely,

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