New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Dulos’ mother opposes Pattis’ settlement offer in legal fees dispute
FARMINGTON — Defense attorney Norm Pattis has offered to pay back more than half of the $250,000 retainer he received from Fotis Dulos in the days before he died.
But Jennifer Dulos’ family says that’s not enough.
An attorney representing her mother, Gloria Farber, plans to contest an agreement the administrator for Fotis Dulos’ estate has reached with Pattis to reimburse $137,500 of the retainer he received in January.
On Jan. 7, Fotis Dulos was charged with murder and kidnapping in the death and disappearance of his estranged wife. He gave Pattis and his colleague, Kevin Smith, the $250,000 retainer on Jan. 16 to represent him in the murder case and any appeal, according to the Probate Court documents.
Two weeks later, Fotis Dulos died on Jan. 30 from an apparent suicide.
Pattis’ attorney John Williams contends that some of the $250,000 retainer was payment for services that had already been provided. Fotis Dulos hired Pattis and his law firm soon after he was first charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in June 2019.
“It was an understanding from these parties from day one that a lot of the payment would be down the road,” Williams said. “It was for all of the work over the course of the entire litigation with Mr. Dulos. It took Mr. Dulos a long time to get the money together.”
Attorney Mark Dean, a trustee representing Farber, filed a lawsuit in August alleging Pattis wrongfully kept the retainer months after his client died. Dean’s lawsuit claimed the money should go to Fotis Dulos’ estate.
Attorney Christopher Hug, the administrator of the estate, filed to intervene in the lawsuit and then filed his own complaint on Aug. 25, also claiming the money should go to the estate. Hug has since negotiated with Pattis and his attorney to determine how much of the $250,000 should be reimbursed.
Fotis Dulos paid Pattis and Smith $50,000 after he was first arrested in June 2019, according to Hug’s lawsuit. Fotis Dulos also paid the attorneys $155,000 prior to his second arrest on a tampering with evidence charge in September 2019, Hug said.
In his lawsuit, Hug claims Pattis and Smith broke their June 2019 agreement with
Fotis Dulos by failing to reimburse unused portions of the $50,000 and by spending exorbitant amounts on items that were not connected with his defense.
The agreement Hug has reached with Pattis must be signed by all parties involved. As part of the agreement, the lawsuits filed by Dean and Hug would be dismissed.
However, attorney Richard Weinstein, who represents Farber, said he plans to contest the agreement, saying Pattis’ offer is not enough. Hug noted in the agreement that he believes Dean will also contest the deal.
The estate is largely insolvent and Farber was awarded possession of Fotis Dulos’ Farmington home on Friday after she filed foreclosure proceedings on the property as police were searching for her daughter in July 2019.
Since Fotis Dulos’ death, a Superior Court judge has awarded Farber about $2 million in a lawsuit she filed against her son-in-law for unpaid loans to his real estate development business. Farber’s attorneys are trying to recoup some of the money through Fotis Dulos’ estate.
Fotis Dulos was accused of attacking his estranged wife in the garage of her New Canaan home when she returned from dropping off their children at school on May 24, 2019, according to his arrest warrant.
Police said Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault” and the state’s medical examiner determined she suffered injuries that were not survivable without immediate medical attention, the warrant stated.
Pattis provided a flamboyant defense of Fotis Dulos that drew sharp criticisms from the prosecutor, family and friends of Jennifer Dulos and even writer Gillian Flynn. The author slammed Pattis for suggesting Jennifer Dulos staged her own disappearance based on Flynn’s “Gone Girl” novel.
Pattis’ repeated comments prompted Superior Court Judge John Blawie to issue a gag order in the case. Pattis challenged the order before the state Supreme Court, which did not render a decision before Fotis Dulos died.