A Manhattan lawyer who sued his clients for attorneys fees has been found to have grossly overcharged his clients and was recently ordered to repay the couple over $21,000.

Attorney Ronny Buni was representing Gerald and Vivian Kleinerman in a real estate battle with their co-op board. According to news reports, over $20,000 in legal fees was amassed early in the case and Buni insisted on additional payments.  As the legal fees dispute escalated, an arbitrator stepped in and ordered Buni to repay the couple $5,000.  Buni refused to back down and filed suit against the Kleinermans.

Now, Buni has been ordered by the court to repay the Kleinermans $21,621 plus interest from May 2011 and he was taken to task for his "remarkable billing practices." Manhattan Civil Court Judge Frank Nervo ruled that some of Buni's charges for "legal research" amounted to no more than Buni brushing up on Law 101.  The “legal research (Buni) billed for was not, in fact, research, but simply an attempt to familiarize himself with principles of law” that “he should have known,” the judge wrote.  Legal fees also included billing for time Buni spent calling another lawyer for advice on how to handle the case.

Buni also charged the couple for “innumerable emails” he sent them, including some where he was “berating” them for input into their real estate case the judge deemed perfectly reasonable, the judge said. Worse yet, Buni billed the Kleinermans for three hours of arguing with the judge and his clerk about a scheduling conflict -- at $300 an hour.

Kleinerman said the ruling “restored my faith in the justice system.”

—Source: New York Daily News