Lawsuit alleges Norm Pattis kept $250K retainer in Dulos case
The Jennifer and Fotis Dulos saga has taken a new turn this week with defense attorney Norm Pattis accused of keeping a $250,000 retainer he received two weeks before his client died from an apparent suicide.
Attorney Richard Weinstein, representing Jennifer Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, and the estate of her late father, Hilliard, filed the seven-page lawsuit in state Superior Court in Hartford.
According to the complaint, Pattis was given the retainer on Jan 16 — about a week after Fotis Dulos was charged with murder and kidnapping in the death and disappearance of his estranged wife.
Weinstein contends Pattis violated the “rules of professional responsibility” when he did not return the funds after his client died on Jan. 30.
Weinstein wants the funds returned to Fotis Dulos’ estate to pay off creditors, including his client. In June, Gloria Farber, who has been caring for the five Dulos children since their mother vanished on May 24, 2019, was awarded nearly $2 million in lawsuits she filed against Fotis Dulos for unpaid business loans.
But attorney John Williams, who is representing Pattis and his colleague, Kevin Smith, called the lawsuit against his clients a “waste” of the estate’s “resources.”
“This is an utterly frivolous and meritless lawsuit, which appears to have been brought on behalf of the woman who bears a large measure of responsibility for the tragedy that has enveloped this family,” Williams said in a statement.
“We not only intend to defend the case vigorously,
but after we prevail, we will seek compensation from everyone responsible for bringing it,” Williams said. “There is much to be said here and we fully intend to say it in the appropriate forum and at the appropriate time. For now, it is sufficient to say that Attorney Weinstein and his clients are wasting whatever resources the estate may have, which is not surprising since the true motive for the suit obviously is something other than money.”
According to Weinstein’s lawsuit, the retainer agreement stated that “if some unforeseen event” prevented Pattis and Smith from representing Fotis Dulos, the portion of the unused fee would be returned based on hourly rates. An hourly rate was never set, Weinstein said, and no portion of the retainer was returned to the estate.
Attorneys have been wrangling for months over the contents of the estate and how to calculate its worth since Fotis Dulos was deeply in debt when he died.
All of the properties owned by Fotis Dulos’ real estate development company, Fore Group, are in foreclosure proceedings, court records show.
The estate of Fotis Dulos recently asked a Farmington Probate Court judge to declare Jennifer Dulos dead so the $194,000 from an individual retirement account
could be used to pay creditors.
The estate is unable to access the IRA unless it is determined that Jennifer Dulos predeceased her estranged husband because Fotis Dulos did not name a beneficiary, probate documents said. A probate judge is expected to hold a hearing in the coming weeks before making a decision.
Pattis drew sharp criticism for repeatedly claiming Jennifer Dulos may have staged her own disappearance to frame her estranged husband. Pattis also suggested she may have committed what he called a “revenge suicide.”
Jennifer Dulos’ body has never been found, although police said she is presumed dead based on blood evidence they found in the garage of her New Canaan home, according to arrest warrants.
According to arrest warrants, police believe Fotis Dulos used an employee’s pickup truck to drive from his Farmington home to New Canaan the morning of May 24, 2019. Police said Fotis Dulos parked the truck near Waveny Park and rode a vintage French bicycle to his estranged wife’s home on Welles Lane.
According to arrest warrants, Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” when his estranged wife returned from dropping off their children at school. Police said Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault” and has been presumed dead based on the blood evidence found in her garage, the arrest warrants state.
Around the time Jennifer Dulos was reported missing that night, police said Hartford surveillance cameras captured two people resembling Fotis Dulos and his former girlfriend Michelle Troconis making a series of stops along Albany Avenue.
The man was seen dumping trash bags and a license plate that was later discovered to be registered to Fotis Dulos, according to arrest warrants. The bags contained Jennifer Dulos’ blood and clothing, the arrest warrants state.
Video also captured Fotis Dulos and Troconis taking the employee’s pickup truck to a car wash in Avon a few days after police believe Jennifer Dulos was killed, according to arrest warrants. Police later discovered Jennifer Dulos’ blood on one of the vehicle’s seats, arrest warrants state.
Troconis, charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution, and attorney Kent Mawhinney, who was also charged in January with conspiracy to commit murder, are the remaining defendants in the case.
Troconis is next scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Aug. 28, while Mawhinney is not expected to appear until Oct. 29.