Response served to lawsuit

Coffey claims he never said his

firm was considering Lisa's case

By David Baker
Posted March 18, 2007

An acknowledgment has been received to the lawsuit filed against attorney Steve Coffey and his firm, O’Connell & Aronowitz. The 6-page legal document, known as an answer, was served on March 14.

The document is a standard response to a lawsuit. In it, a defendant briefly either admits or denies each of the allegations in the complaint.

In this one, Coffey – who signed the answer – denies that his firm ever indicated that it was considering taking over the case.

This after it had requested and received from me $1,500 for a review of the medial records, and had asked in two letters to the court for an extension of the stay so that it could assess the case.

So what were they doing for two months, while the defense lawyers were filing motions to have the case thrown out? Apparently nothing, which is exactly what is claimed in my lawsuit.

Meanwhile, settlement of the Small Claims Court judgment against Coffey's firm has been held up because the U.S. Post Office has lost a letter.

On March 10, I mailed to Coffey a signed and notarized release of claim. The letter was sent Certified Mail, but a week later the Post Office has no record of the item after it was accepted in Waterford. It apparently never arrived at the mail facility in Albany and as of March 17, no one knows where it is.