Debra Grimalia Law Office of Debra Grimaila Deceptive Practice With even more deceptive attorney, "this is where the term blood sucking attorney comes from" Irvine California

I had gone to see Debra on Aug 19th at her Irvine office everything i express in this message is my sole opinon based on meeting Debra personally myself. This is not an attempt to slander anyone but warn others from blunders such as these.

  As I usually do before I go on using any type of outside service I attempt to screen there background & reputation just to get a better feel for the persons practice & area of expertise.  I had gone on to see that Debra had what looked like were " people Issues" being reported against her in the past, I didnt think TOO much of it as she seemed to respond to complaints & ultimatley resolve the matter.  I also went on Yelp & saw that she had a few poor remarks, but after speaking to her I thought I should at least speak to her face to face to determine this for myself, & if all went well to see about possibly retaining her since she was readily available.  Debra stated she was free that afternoon & schecduled to see me that same day. She seemed very eager to see but I just figured she was high energy or something.

After waiting in the lobby for at least 20 minutes she comes out & brings me to her 8x8 office (room) way in the back of the hall; that should of been a red light right away to me to get away as it could harldly be called an office & more like a bedroom.  We had gone on to discuss what I thought was a "Free Consulation" where later in the conversation she had stated (after I had driven to her office)  "that I will have to pay her $300 no matter what since my consulation is taking so much time"  I had questioned this at first and then she states "but you were going to hire me anyway right.? So no big deal".  I go on to explain my situation & we devise not only a final retainer price which I had conferenced in a third party as they were sharing the costs of the retainer with me (which he heard everything)  but also devised a strategy, expectations & a time frame that Debra would execute this strategy for us.

She had agreed with us that the parties at hand would recieve custom specific letters within 24-48 hours, and she was going to charge us $300 per letter.  After talking Debra down from 7 letters to 4 letters as she was very insistent on sending a letter to EVERYONE, she then goes on to tell me that I need to give her at least 500-800 more worth of extra funds for her to return calls speak to the parites recieving letters etc. I agreed & paid her $2k to write 4 letters,& resolve a final resolution with the party we were having the problem with & to ensure the matter ulitmalty is closed with no one unscaved.  Keep in mind this was Monday afternoon, by the next day at 3 pm I had sent what she had asked me for regarding licensing to her email within 24 hours & had not heard any type of response or conformation at all that day.  Generally a response such as " recieved " is apprecaited.    I had called Wed Afternoon 8-21 and followed up & left a message around 11 am, no response back ALL DAY, I even emailed her as well still NO response.  I finallly sent another email on Thursday 8-22 regarding speaking to her & called her office & again left a message.  Finally she calls me back around Noon and goes on to tell me she had a deposition & it was time sensitive & she is very sorry she had not returned my calls but YES she did get my email.  I explained to her the time sesitivie nature of this situation & how I was expecting these letters to be in the mail already, especially since I paid her for this.  Which she insisted I Pay Cash, & after asking her why she does not accept credit card she remarks & I quote" FYI, I do not take credit cards, because the world is filled with people like you who like to get something for nothing"..  This was hrt response, this is the type of attitude & position she had the entire time she was more like a relative staying at my house more then an attorney advising me, she even likes to make her point by dropping the occasional " F " bomb, for an older lady this again is something I am not use to, escpeially by an attorney.

From here it was all down hill, she called me back an hour later or so & tells me she typed up a formal response & that she emailed this to me for my review. After reading the letter I had gone on to share with Debie a few points that needed to be revised & how I did not want to sound so FORTHCOMING in the letter, but moreover that I must be crazy to pay $300 x 4, for the same letter.  Debra then becomes upset & starts talking over me & shouting & hollering, about I dont know what I'm saying & that I told her only to write one letter, & that the agency recieveng the letter is going to know its ME by my lic # if i remove my lic. # in the letter as a reference no one will figure out its regarding my specific matter.  I go on to tell her I am certain someone will see " MY NAME" & put too & too together.  She then becomes more upset & states that maybe this is not working out & that she shouldn't be my attorney anymore.  All this is taken place within a matter of 2-3 minutes of our conversation the first day after my consulation.  I go on to tell her if she feels this way that maybe we shouldnt work together & she goes on to say immediatly there after almost like she had it planned " I WILL send you an invoice & refund any monies that I deem unused. "

Keep in mind I never even spoke to this lady before today other then our orginal cousulation 3 days ago, never recieved any letter, never recieved any coorespondence, never even had her send THE ACTUAL PARTY AT HANDa mailed LETTER, I never even recieved a response via email until TODAY...  This lady did nothing for me, I spoke to her twice today 8-22 for a combined time of 7 minutes and she chargs me $180.00 for this alone & goes on to justify her fee saying "its in the contract".  She even charges me $90.00 to type up the final invoice, she is really hurting for money or just a really dishonest person.

This lady is really someone you need to consider twice before using, she is not relaible & in 3 days she did NOTHING for me and charged me over $1700.00, of course she will go on to attempt to justify her fees but saying she did this & did that & spoke to me for 2 hours when we just met, but again this is just an attempt to say she earned these bogus fees. How is she going to charge me $750 for a consulation when I never agreed to this.   She is unprofessinonal & goes on to tell me her husband is leaving her & that she needs to get 'PAID".  Debra is out for herself & has casused me a huge amount of stress & worry, all she wasted valuable time for me & cost me alot of money I dont have.  I dont have any reason to spend over an hour writing this complaint trying to warn others unless my grievance has merit & truth.  I will formally seek a greivance with the state bar regarding this matter & I encourage others to step forward if you share an experience like mine.