Opinion ID: 2588467
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Ruth Born

Text: On January 10, 1996, Ms. Born and her father, Joe Noll, retained Kagele because Ms. Born loaned her daughter, Melissa, $13,000 for a down payment on a riding stable and did not receive a promissory note or any other writing to document the loan. Ms. Born asked Kagele to draft a promissory note and to review a Deed of Trust connected to a business loan taken by Melissa for the stables. The bank used collateral from both Ms. Born and Mr. Noll. At the initial meeting, they signed the fully-earned, nonrefundable retainer fee agreement, providing that Kagele's fee would be $750. Collectively they paid Kagele $750 at this time. Ms. Born attempted to reach Kagele by telephone, leaving messages on February 9, 13, 19, 27, 29; March 11, 25; and April 3, 1996. Kagele only returned her February 29 phone call. Between January 1996 and April 1996, Mr. Noll also unsuccessfully tried to reach Kagele. On April 15, 1996, Ms. Born wrote Kagele a letter terminating his services and requesting her file and an accounting of how Kagele spent the retainer money. Kagele returned the file that day but refused to refund any of the retainer. Kagele did not return any of the retainer fee because he did not think that his termination was justified. DP at 21. Ms. Born received the original file, containing the documents she supplied to Kagele and a copy of a letter Kagele sent to Melissa on January 18, 1996. Melissa refused to sign a promissory note and became upset with the situation.