Opinion ID: 1255297
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: stosich's departure from jenkins law offices, chtd.

Text: Stosich left the JLO in January 1989. Neither Stosich nor Jenkins informed the Hopewells that Stosich was no longer with the JLO. The Hopewells were never informed of the status of their cases, if the cases had been reassigned, or if the cases went with Stosich when he left the JLO. It was not until November 1989, when the Hopewells were informed that their cases were without merit, that they also discovered Stosich was no longer with the JLO. After discovering Stosich had left the JLO, Mrs. Hopewell contacted Stosich to ask him about the dismissal of the personal injury case. Stosich stated that he would handle their cases and attempt to get the personal injury case reinstated. Mrs. Hopewell wrote the JLO in November 1989 and requested that Jenkins send the Hopewells' files to Stosich. As of December 11, 1989, Stosich had not received the Hopewells' files from the JLO and informed the Hopewells of this fact. It appears that no further efforts were made by either Jenkins or Stosich on the Hopewell cases. The Hopewells then went to another attorney, Stephen Hall (Hall), in an attempt to obtain some results in their cases. Hall wrote letters to both Jenkins and Stosich requesting the case files from the three Hopewell cases. Stosich initially did not respond to Hall's letter, but Stosich later informed Hall that he was awaiting a transfer of the files from Jenkins. Jenkins responded to Hall's letter by disclaiming any responsibility for the Hopewells' cases. In his letter, Jenkins stated that he spoke to Mr. Hopewell once about the asbestos case, and that he had some recollection about the workers' compensation case. Jenkins also stated that Stosich was handling the workers' compensation case and that Stosich would likely have any files on those cases. Jenkins had possession of the three files at the JLO and eventually returned them to the Hopewells in January 1993, after the ISB interceded.