Can a bankruptcy lawyer file a case for you without your permission? Not without your signature. Yet that’s exactly what a Yonkers consumer says happened to him.
Domingo Hernandez was facing foreclosure on the Yonkers home where his parents lived, so he did what any smart New Yorker would do – he called a lawyer. What allegedly happened next was not what Domingo expected.
According to Domingo, his lawyer Christopher Cabanillas filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy on his behalf in White Plains.
Problem is, Domingo didn’t give his authorization to file a bankruptcy case on his behalf. In fact, he didn’t even know bankruptcy was in the cards.
According to a recent story on the case:
Cabanillas told him that his firm had a “special program” designed to hold off foreclosure proceedings for up to two years. The “special program” used a legal defense against foreclosure combined with modification of the mortgage loan. Hernandez agreed to a $7,500 retainer for Cabanillas and the special program and on March 9 gave the lawyer $1,250.
But instead of a “special program,” Cabanillas put Hernandez in bankruptcy, filing a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in White Plains on Oct. 1 — all without Hernandez’s knowledge or permission.
Now, Hernandez has hired my friend and colleague Linda Tirelli, a Westchester bankruptcy lawyer. Linda filed papers on Domingo’s behalf in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains that seek sanctions against Cabanillas.
A hearing on Hernandez’s efforts to strike the bankruptcy filing and sanction Cabanillas is scheduled for Wednesday before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains. Personally, I hope that Linda gets Domingo’s case stricken from the record. It will be interesting to hear what Cabanillas has to say for himself.
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