7/10/2006

from: Fred Matthews

Attorney: Chris Covert

4805 SE 28^{th Ave. 15948 SE Division}

Portland, Or. 97202 Portland, Or. 97236

503-336-5238 503-810-6709

Dear Oregon State Bar-Disciplinary,

I need to file a complaint against an attorney that I had the misfortune to hire and depend on. Mr. Chris Covert, Atty., agreed to represent me in a landlord/tenant eviction with an affirmative defense of flawed service, retaliation and illegal entry. I initially showed Mr. Covert evidence of 2 illegal entries and told him there were more and even more occurring presently. He agreed to a flat fee, had me sign a fee agreement that I now realize was blank, did not give me a copy of that agreement either.

The fee discussed verbally and agreed upon was $1000. That fee covered negotiations of any settlement of the above outlined case and to represent me in a few other matters related. Mr. Covert had me spend virtually all of my available funds to secure all of the evidence I could to help him represent me in “His Case” as he referred to “My Case”. He refused to allow me to bring him the final evidence so he could amend the complaint to include the new 3 more illegal entries nor did he want to see any of the evidence that would have supported my initial claim demand. Once he arrived in court, I again tried to give him my carefully and expensively prepared evidence, he refused many times over. He then refused to amend the complaint and also refused to even present my initial demands for compensation as they were outrageous in his words.

He then proceeded to enter into negotiations totally unprepared and continued to negotiate me down to nearly ½ of my initial demand. Once the other side agreed, Mr. Covert then expressed his glee and total surprise that they agreed to pay me “SO MUCH”. He then “told” me that he was changing his fee agreement from the flat fee of $1000 but to a full 1/3 or $1750. When I questioned his ethics, he assured me such a change in fees was standard, that a “windfall” such as this tiny settlement was so large that “he should be able to share”.

When I tried to speak to him about this prior to signing the final agreement, he attempted to change the subject by directing my attention to the ASSES of the women in the hallway where we were sitting. He wanted to discuss his own wife’s “World Class Ass” in an attempt to divert my attention. I felt that he had sold me down the river and was now attempting to feast on the bones of the dead with his new claims for a fee adjustment. He could have advised me to stand on my initial settlement demand, went to court and prevailed and under those terms, he would have been awarded attorney’s fees of over $6000, but no, he insisted on me giving in giving in and for his 2 hours of negotiating, he thinks he should take a major portion of the tiny settlement that he did bring me to sign. Two days later, he was to represent me in a walk through inspection of my apartment with the owners attorney and experts to inspect for a baseline status of my apartment since there was none done when the new owner bought the place from me.

When he arrived, I again asked him to discuss his ethics and explained that I had sent a vague email inquiry to the Oregon State Bar regarding his tactics and that is when he walked out on me, leaving the planned inspection, told the other attorney that the inspection would not come off on that date. He then notified me of his request to the court to allow him to withdraw due to a conflict, he went on to describe contrived reasons, not addressing the real issue whatsoever. He then also informed me that he would not represent me in the court appointment scheduled for the following day and that appearance was supposed to be paid for out of the flat $1000 fee.

I have been damaged by first of all, being poorly represented, ineffective council, attempted to rob me by changing fees, had me sign a blank fee agreement, failed to uphold his agreement to represent me in court on the following day. This failure alone has made me endure an additional 30 days of a restraining order that should have been thrown out that day. I now have to find representation for that court appearance and the fees for that representation should be deducted form any fee paid to Mr. Chris Covert.

Most of the damage is nebulous and hard to quantify but for sure, he needs to be made aware that these tactics are not acceptable and he should be made to accept a fee of the original $1000 less the cost for formal real representation of the remaining court appearance now set for August 11, 2006.

Please ask any questions, I am willing to testify or provide any more information you may request or require to follow through on this matter. I have been informed by knowledgeable people that the OSB is an organization that will bend over backwards to protect the offending attorney’s and not one to protect the clients of those attorneys. I hope you will prove to be more than a stuffed shirt. Please advise me as to what my alternatives are as far as pursuing additional legal satisfaction against Mr. Chris Covert.

Thank you,

Fred Matthews

Get a list of all citizen complaints against Oregon State Bar Member Chris Covert click here