Norm Pattis has been accused of keeping a $250,000 retainer he received two weeks before his client Fotis Dulos died from an apparent suicide. Interestingly, it was the attorney for Jennifer Dulos’ late father's estate, and her mother, Gloria Farber, who 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 when his client died on Jan. 30.
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.”
He added, “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.”
Jennifer Dulos’ body remains unfound, 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.