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Harvey Weinstein sues attorney who dropped his case

Weinstein sues attorney

Harvey Weinstein is suing his former attorney Jose Baez.

The disgraced movie producer filed a lawsuit against Baez, who dropped his New York criminal case in 2019, and his partner Michelle Medina - demanding a refund of $1 million plus interest.

"Baez refused to provide any substantive or meaningful legal services to Weinstein in contravention of (their) Engagement," the lawsuit claims.

According to the legal papers, Baez had agreed to be paid on a "work on a fee-for-service with co-counsel Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. through the end of all trial and post-trial basis proceedings" once joining Weinstein's legal team in January 2019. He was to receive $2 million in monthly payments of $200,000 as part of his contract.

Weinstein claims that during Baez's time on his team, he was "regularly unavailable to communicate to Weinstein, and not directly involved with the compilation, investigation, research, and drafting of various high priority substantive legal work which was substantially delegated to other non-Baez Law Firm attorneys such as Ronald S. Sullivan Jr."

In May 2019, Weinstein asked Baez to produce a document accounting for the time and work he'd spent on the case, but claims the lawyer refused. Baez then started to threaten his withdrawal from the case, according to the lawsuit, and demanded to be paid the $1 million outstanding.

However, by summer 2019, Baez had officially withdrawn from Weinstein's team.

A year later, following Weinstein's conviction for rape and sexual assault, the producer was invoiced for $1,028.227.50 . His attorneys claim that while they have asked for a refund several times, Baez and Medina have yet to give them "any meaningful response."

Responding to the lawsuit, Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Baez and Medina, told Fox News: "Harvey Weinstein's lawsuit against Jose Baez and his firm is nothing more than yet another predatory act by a vile fiend, utterly lacking in credibility...

"In yet another legal blunder, Weinstein's lawsuit has opened the door to disclosure of damning statements by him which would otherwise have been shielded by the attorney-client privilege. Despite Weinstein's penchant for bullying, Jose Baez is an upstanding pillar of the legal community who will not be pushed around and looks forward to exposing Weinstein's claims for what they are, audacious lies."



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