Well we are all just sitting here waiting for the guilty verdicts on the Anna Nicole Smith trial to come in, and are curious as to what is taking so long? It is now day five of deliberations and nothing from the “Peers”…not sure if it is going to be good or bad…either way, it appears that the jury is taking their time and crossing the Ts and dotting the Is. And Judge Fidler is not Judge Perry…big difference.
So, a little light humor here while we wait. And while chuckling, pay attention and you will learn something about the way of this world we call “Divorce.”
Folks, here is a little update on the story we did on Mr. Douglas A. Bagby on June 15th of 2010 titled, The Ted Baxter of the Courtroom”…well, time does change things and in this case it went from awful to just terrible, I mean bad, real bad, like all four of my tires are flat bad, miserably painfully on a scale from 1-10….TEN+ !!! Now keep in mind clients will often turn on their lawyers, this is not unusual. What is “fun” here is that I was fortunate to be there when the “worm began to turn.” I am sure Bagby wished I was off getting a nice massage on June 15th, 2010…but I was not and was sitting and listening.
As luck would have it, Ms. Lauren Stills on September 17, 2010 signed a declaration under the penalty of perjury all of the following. I am going to take snippets of her declaration, the parts that I found “moving” and I am sure that her lawyer Mr. Bagby, too, found his “bowels” wanting to move. Ms. Lauren Stills was the woman whom I stated, she looked like a horse that had been ridden hard and put away wet! Well, when you go through her declaration and read what she has to say about her lawyer, Mr. Douglas A. Bagby…I was right: as many women sitting under that saddle have gone through, she had been ridden, real hard.
Here are some highlights:
From Paragraph 3, First Page, of what Lauren Stills’ declaration:
Mr. Bagbys seeking to withdraw under the circumstances of my case is, in my view, unconscionable. It should not be granted. Indeed, he seeks to withdraw after depleting a substantial family asset base, the size and limits of which were known by him, as he advised me from the outset and on the eve of my hiring him to sell our family residence to raise funds for legal fees, which only now seems like self-serving advice which helped his practice weather the economic downturn while there appeared an evident client shortage.
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: WOW…I HOPE THERE WAS A BLANKET AND SOME HAY WHEN SHE GOT TO THE BARN.
Paragraph 4, towards the bottom:
Quite frankly, I trusted Mr. Bagby, and expected from the outset to the present (minus two months) that he would be faithful in bringing closure to both financial and custody matters given the ample resources he had at his disposal.
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: WOW, Yup, He had, that is past tense!
Paragraph 4, bottom:
It made no sense to spend as if there was a bottomless pit of financial resources, which he knew there were not. Could it be true that Mr. Bagby figured he would just work until the money ran out and then withdraw? Sadly, I now believe this to be so.
DESPERATEEXES.COM ASKS: Lauren did you ever discuss with Ted Baxter, excuse me, Mr. Douglas A. Bagby your concerns that he was spending too much of your money? If you did not question this then it is sad, for you. This is not unusual at all, and again how many women out there in Divorce Land can relate?
Lauren did you ever mention how nice his suits looked on him? My tailored suits have my name and the date they were made for me…just a thought.
Paragraph 5, first line:
Over approximately four years of representing me, Mr. Bagby has completed no or virtually no discovery on the most critical financial issue of the entire case–namely, valuation of PIP–and has left the forensic accountant with a balance of over $ 16,000.00 and a payment promise long overdue
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: WOW X 3. Often we as private investigators will assist clients with issues like this and try and “ride herd” over the case…it is almost sounding like there was a stampede of Ben Franklins aka “The Running of the Bills.”
Paragraph 5, line 29:
The bottom line is that Mr. Bagby has incurred ample fees to ensure payment for himself–to the tune of approximately $1 million in fees to his office over almost four years…
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: Oh that is one hell of a tune, Peggy Lee had a hit recording titled, Hey Big Spender, that too was a recording with a real snappy beat. Lauren, did you ever notice how nice Mr. Douglas A. Bagbys suits looked? I noticed that he was rather well dressed…not as nice as Sorrell Trope, Lisa H. Meyer or Susan E. Weisner, but nice.
Paragraph 6, line 20, Lauren Stills declares:
what is going to happen when the money runs out?…Had I been provided just one ounce of an honest answer months and hundreds of thousands of dollars ago, I would have made different choices… letting the attorney ‘run the show’…”
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: Lauren, you should have paid more attention to the bottom line and had a plan in writing, and always you should have had a bacup plan. letting the attorney ‘run the show’…hmmm not sure I would ever suggest this is the plan to take, without very close monitoring…did you ever ask why this or why that and how about this, did you ever question the bill and just once say NO, I am not paying this?”
Folks, read all of this declaration at your leisure as it is a real learning experience for women and sometimes men to realize what you are getting into in the world of Divorce. Is what Lauren Stills experienced so rare? I say no. I have seen dozens and dozens of these situations in the past 19 years. As to Mr. Douglas A. Bagby, I stand by my comments of June 15th, 2010. I am sure I will get the usual comments from Ted and all that goes with that, and if he wants to post a comment we will post one.
As to his “never using my office or services”…good, I am still shopping at Gelsons and loving it. I will never lose sleep over not providing services to Mr. Bagby, personally I am too old to care…and on the other hand, with stuff like this, I could not invent it!
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Now in all fairness as I can see the e-mails and letters coming (at least I hope), as I am making it clear now, ANY E-MAILS OR LETTERS FROM MR. DOUGLAS A. BAGBY WILL BE POSTED FOR ALL TO READ ON DESPERATEEXES.COM. This is not to pick on Mr. Douglas A. Bagby, it is however, a lesson for all of our readers that when you are unhappy, DONT SPEND ALMOST ONE MILLION DOLLARS before you speak up! Also I have said hundreds of times that the lawyer – client relationship is great when the money is flowing…and when it stops, BAM! I know of a few lawyers who take retainers knowing already they will not be there at the end…but as Ms. Lauren Stills so well stated, it takes money to keep a practice running. And some lawyers are flying cargo month to month to try and make ends meet…this is not the case of Mr. Douglas A. Bagby, he lasted it would appear almost 4 years.
Mr. Douglas A. Bagbys declaration as of September 22nd, 2010 highlights forthwith:
Paragraph 2, line 10, Mr. Bagby states:
I do not intend to provide any response to the many false statements made by Respondent in her declaration unless this court orders me to do so…I do not believe the personal attacks made by the respondent against me do anything other than support my request to withdraw as her attorney in this matter…
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: LMAO! I can close my eyes and hear Mr. Douglas A. Bagby stating his position, standing of course. I agree with Mr. Bagby, it would appear to all who read this that Ms. Stills is not happy, to the tune of about a million times! My question is did she send her complaints to the State Bar of California?
Paragraph 2, line 17, Mr. Bagby states:
August 4, 2010, I sent Respondent a lengthy confidential email explaining why I could not possibly continue as her attorney of record in the pending action…Financial considerations were not the compelling reason
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: LMAO SOME MORE! Brevity is not one of Mr. Bagbys strong cards. And where in the list of considerations was Financial.” (someday I hope I can make one million on one case…)
Paragraph 3, line 20, Mr. Bagby states:
I have invested extraordinary efforts on behalf of Respondent over the past 4 years.
DESPERATEEXES.COM STATES: SOMEONE HELP ME I AM ON THE FLOOR….OMG!!!!!!! And what did Lauren Stills invest in you Mr. Bagby?
Paragraph 3, line 22, Mr. Bagby states:
My office has over 7,000 email communications with Respondent since February of 2008 on virtually every issue, including many on evenings, weekends, and vacations, and probably in excess of 10,000 since I was retained by respondent
Feel free to read all of Mr. Bagbys responses to his client’s accusations and again, Mr. Douglas A. Bagby is not the only lawyer who bails on a client. I have done it and again I have seen other lawyers do this also. What makes this interesting is the feel I got the first day that I saw Bagby and Ms. Stills in courtroom…I was “dialed in” and I read it right as if I had a menu in front of me.
To all my readers, remember to ask questions and don’t write big checks, write small ones and keep track. And also remember to have someone on your side if you are too timid to ask the ultimate question: WHAT THE F*%# ARE YOU DOING? I have found that lawyers are good at lawyering and all that goes with that, however, a divorce can be like a very big ship and every ship needs a captain to make big decisions. And over the years Nazarian and Associates has in fact been “the captain” and gave our clients a voice in the direction of their divorce, and in doing so avoided stormy weather and bad seas.