Florida Lawyer's Lawyer Suspended Over Alleged $100,000 Billing Scandal

As reported by the Tampa Bay Times, Alva's client, Daniel McCool, president of car paint repair company Dr. ColorChip, hired him in September 2016 to handle a company dispute. The agreement between Alva and Dr. ColorChip specified that McCool would pay $400 per hour for Alva's time, $100 per hour for paralegal time, and a $25,000 monthly retainer if litigation was required.

The referee's report noted that all changes to this agreement had to be in writing and signed by both parties. The arrangement was working smoothly until the December 2017 invoice, which Alva sent on January 9, 2018, and billed $25,040 for 66. 8 hours of work. However, McCool expressed concerns about the invoice, citing seven questions raised by an employee regarding undefined 2017 bill.

Despite requests for clarification, Alva failed to respond, "prompting the employee to send a follow-up email on February 21.".. 2018. As reported by undefined, "a review of the case revealed that Alva had attempted to overbill Dr." ColorChip by $100,000, had a bank account containing $2 million, and may have misappropriated $40,000. The referee's report states that McCool discovered that Alva had been applying the monthly retainer to unpaid invoices and was holding onto unapplied retainers.

The court ultimately suspended Alva for three years... citing his disregard for the terms of his agreement with Dr. ColorChip and his failure to provide adequate accounting for his services. The suspensions of the other three attorneys were also based on allegations of ethical misconduct. The incident serves as a reminder of the importance of transparency and accountability in legal practices.

More details: Found here

Curtis Alva is a licensed attorney undefined, admitted to undefined in 1999. He has operated his law firm, based undefined, since then. Alva's services are sought after by various clients, including Daniel McCool, president of Dr. ColorChip, a car paint repair company. As his work with Dr. ColorChip progressed, Alva submitted an invoice for $25,040 undefined 2018.

However, the client requested clarification on several points, "which Alva failed to address." This marks a significant controversy undefined's professional career... ultimately leading to his suspension by the state Supreme Court.

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In explaining why four South Florida attorneys were suspended by the state Supreme Court last month, you'd run across an attempted overbilling of $100,000, a $2 million bank account and $40,000 of possibly misappropriated funds. According to the referee's report, Daniel McCool, president of car paint repair company Dr. ColorChip, hired West Palm Beach's Curtis Alva (admitted to undefined in 1999) undefined 2016 to handle a company dispute.