Jacques duChastel de Montrouge My lawyer screwed me, nuff' said Montreal, Quebec

I recently found out this sumb**ch bit the dust recently.

https://www.memoria.ca/obituary-jacques-duchastel.html?disparuID=MzQwNDM%3D

Just looked him up and found out that he died on May 14 of this year.

Just reading the eulogy about him, about what a great guy he was (I know we all have our faults but come the f*** on) just makes me laugh.

Oh well. Living well is the best revenge.

After having filed a complaint with the Quebec Bar Association against my ex-lawyer Jacques DuChastel De Montrouge, I was offered a settlement in 2010 that reimbursed the fees I paid in exchange for not taking any further action against him. I accepted and got paid, case closed...or so I thought.

This past Moday, the same guy messages me by Facebook saying that since I didn't remove the postings on Rip Off Report.com and that they are causing him a great prejudice, I agreed to pay back the money. Like **** I did; I agreed to take no further action against him, period.

If was so concerned about his reputation, maybe he shouldn't have tried screwing me, and others, by overcharging for his services and then stiffing them. I'm lucky I got my money back; others weren't so fortunate.

I filed another complaint with the Quebec Bar Association against him. I'd advise others who were screwed by this guy to do likewise.

Collection agencies differ from bailiffs in that they don't need a court order, but it doesn't hurt. There's a few that will collect on a no-recovery, no-fee basis. You pay then a percentage from whatever they can squeeze out of his sorry a**. If he filed for bankruptcy, you may have to wait seven years until it is discharged before you can go after him.

His daughter works at Salon B downtown. Maybe she can persuade him to cough if you ask her nicely.

That's as far as the law will allow, unless you have some connections in high (or low) places...

Sorry, I wrote the above comment and mistakenly submitted it as written by the "owner of the company".

Listen, the system is so corrupt, that when this crook had the nerve to take me to court for alleged fees owing, and I spent an entire day in court, without a lawyer up against a lawyer, and my health is poor and I simply shouldn't be doing things like that, which he knew, and I won and was awarded a paltry $50 in costs by the court (which in fact I had paid out of pocket to file my defence against his lawsuit), well, guess what, there was no way for me to force a sitting member of the Bar to pay that court-ordered amount. The courthouse staff advised me that I would spend many times that hiring a bailiff to get the money from him. The Bar just ignored me. Imagine, a lawyer not paying a court-ordered penalty with complete impunity. The system is completely corrupt. And now the Bar is protecting him. So, to add insult to teh injury of being robbed, he thumbed his nose at the court and never paid me the 50 bucks.  

In that case, I suggest you go with a collection agency on a no-collection, no fee basis. Squeeze the guy for what he owes you plus applicable collection fees. If he's bankrupt, that might be a problem. Hopefully you won't run out of legal options...

Thanks - but I tried. The Bar said that he's a sick man, they don't want to put him through the ordeal. Really! The corruption never stops.

Sorry to hear about your case. If you contact the Quebec Bar Association and file a formal complaint against him, they may be able to help. It shouldn't take as long as it did in my case, so hurry up before it's too late. Be sure to have your documents handy as proof, they'll want copies.

I too got ripped off by this lawyer, for about $725, which I will never see. I'm glad you got your money back. I wish the rest of us could.

This guy is something else. In my case he billed me for a $700 courthouse fee to file my lawsuit, then didn't pay the fee, so when I fired him the courthouse still had to be paid if I wanted to continue with my suit. This isn't supposed to happen, because you have to pay the moment you file your suit, but this clown obviously had some equally crooked buddy at the courthouse taking his cases without the necessary payment. Completely corrupt. I complained to the courthouse, they didn't care. Just amazing that the public could get ripped off like this so blatantly and no one will stand up for them.

I hope Mr Duchastel de Montrouge rots in a very hot place for a very long time. Good luck anyone else dealing with him. 

I finally got the cheque in the mail as promised and my bank cleared it. So that it. Overall, I had a net loss of $10.00 not to mention all the time and energy I put into submitting having the lawyer take my case and then screw me around. Water under the bridge.  Some good may have come out of it, though. An honest man is hard to find, but an honest lawyer...

After filing my complaint with the Quebec Bar Association and waiting two years for them to process my complaint and reach a settlement, I learned in the meantime that Mr. DuChastel has been disbarred for tax fraud and other unethical practices (a crooked lawyer getting his due...sweet) and has filed for bankruptcy. His family is bailing him out regarding his creditors and they're going to reimburse me all the money he took from me, short $10.00, but since this took so long to iron out and deal is on the table as is, I'm not going to lose $759.63 over that. Part of the deal was that I has to erase these posts or failing that, post a final notice that the issue has been permanently resolved, which I'll do as soon as I get that check in the mail. It seems the best things come to those who wait.

Don't give up, there are still things you can do. First, this lawyer has many complaints against him for similar behaviour. It's important that all his victims speak out.

You can make a complaint to the Bar about his billing practices and other behaviour even though the 45 day limit has passed to get a refund. For example, he is supposed to provide you with a written fee agreement and estimate at the beginning. Not having a telephone, not returning your calls, etc. is serious for a lawyer, even if he was ill - he has employees who could have kept you informed. 

One of his tricks is to low-ball the cost of legal action, which is very expensive, get the client on the hook, and then keep billing them. They feel that they can't turn back and throw away their investment. A fee estimate and agreement would at least have let you know from the outset how much the action would cost and let you decide with full disclosure. The Bar is very sensitive to this issue. I won a case against Duchastel in civil court last year on these grounds (I too let the 45 day period pass for similar reasons - he goes incommunicado on you until the 45 days passes, and then pops up and asks for his bill to be paid). (You can also investigate taking him to court to retrieve your money even though the Bar refuses to order its return. If the amount is under $9000 you can file the papers yourself in small claims court for about $100 and he will have to show up in court and explain his behaviour. He's a lawyer and will have an advantage in court - you aren't allowed to hire one in small claims court - but small claims is very informal and often consumer-friendly.)

Speak to someone at the Bar soon. And google Duchastel - the Quebec government is prosecuting him for securities offences, if he loses he'll probably lose his lawyer's licence. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Good luck, and persevere.

Two weeks after filing this report, my lawyer phoned me to say that he saw the report online and he said that "You do what you have to do and I'll do what I have to do." Taking this veiled threat in stride, I stated that this would not have been necessary if he had been honest with me from the start. We argued a bit and I cussed him off out of frustration and he replied in kind, finally shouting at me "You're not Obama!" before hanging up. What's with him and Obama? Is it because I'm Black and he's White? For his sake, I hope not.