Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and personal lawyer to Former President Donald Trump, is facing a lawsuit from his ex-lawyer, Robert Costello, and Costello’s law firm. The lawsuit claims that Giuliani has only paid a small part of his almost $1.6 million in legal fees.
According to the lawsuit, Giuliani has paid only $214,000 of his legal bills, leaving a considerable unpaid balance of $1.36 million. The lawsuit claims that Giuliani breached his retainer agreement by failing to pay his bills in full and in a timely manner.
This legal controversy adds to the numerous legal challenges that Giuliani has faced in recent years, particularly related to his role in promoting claims of election fraud following the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Generally, when one retains an attorney, there exists an agreement wherein the attorney will work for the client and bill the client for said work. The client is responsible to make these payments, and if the client fails to do so, the attorney will have a cause of action against the client for breaching the agreement. While Giuliani may have defenses to this case (for instance if he was overbilled or the law firm committed malpractice), it is shocking that he failed to pay such a large amount of attorney’s fees.
