A few days ago I reported on the case of Miguel Mendoza v. Reed K. Hamzeh, which found that an attorney’s demand letter amounted to extortion since it threatened criminal prosecution if money was not paid. The threatened party turned around and sued for civil extortion, and defeated the anti-SLAPP motion brought by the attorney…
Category: Civil Extortion
Think Before You Demand — Miguel Mendoza v. Reed K. Hamzeh
If the threat of getting in trouble with the State Bar is not enough, maybe the threat of both civil and criminal actions will get attorneys to toe the line. You know that it is an ethical violation for an attorney to threaten criminal action as a means to extract a civil settlement. For…