Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych PLLC

The Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyers prohibits lawyers from communicating with represented parties. Mr. Wetzel is an opposing party represented by counsel. "Rule 4.2 Communication with Person Represented by Counsel: (a) During the representation of a client, a lawyer shall not communicate about the subject of the representation with a person the lawyer knows to be represented by another lawyer in the matter, unless the lawyer has the consent of the other lawyer or is authorized to do so by law or a court order." <br>After receiving a second, unsolicited email from Mr. Wetzel despite having already communicated with his lawyer, I wrote to his attorney on 1 August 2024 confirming when on a date certain in 2022 Mr. Wetzel received the information he's again requesting and asking that counsel inform Mr. Wetzel as to why we could not communicate with him. This morning (12 August 2024), Mr. Wetzel's lawyer sent a message indicating that we could communicate directly with Mr. Wetzel. Mr. Wetzel posted this "review" in the interim. We have informed Mr. Wetzel's lawyer that we have no intention on communicating with him until this "review" is removed.

Mr. Shaikh: We understand that you may not be familiar with this process, but owing to the fact that your company is a creditor of our client, your company is adverse to our client in a legal sense. Thus, from an ethical standpoint, we are prohibited from giving you legal advice and Laura's suggestion that you consult counsel of your own was correct. While perhaps not what you were wanting to hear, her response -- and the tone in which it was conveyed -- was spot on and certainly not deserving of a 1-star review. Hopefully, you will come to the same understanding after you consult counsel of your own. Be well.