Attorney Issue during Eviction Process is Los Angeles

[David Avetisyan]

I am evicting a bad tenant using a local attorney, and the situation is the following:

The law firm began the unlawful detained lawsuit in the local Los Angeles Court, and the tenant decided to file a response within the given five days, and requested the court waive the $200.00 fee.

The law firm, requested a court date, later to find out that the tenant's "waiver" was denied, and she had three days to pay the fee. On the fourth day, I contacted the law firm, and the office employee explained that the tenant had not paid the fee, and the firm had asked for the case to be stricken from the court docket, but the court would need to wait through the three day grace period, as she might have mailed it to them instead. Also, following the grace period the court clerk would need to investigate the failure to pay before it was stricken.

My court case is in only in a few days, and my attorney recommended that we make a court appearance as the case has not been stricken yet, and probably wont be stricken, even the day before the court date, as sometimes the court clerk does not meet the deadline. He also claimed that the tenant might still show up, as she might have paid, and the court simply made a mistake.

I asked whether we could push the court date back and allow the court clerk a few weeks - as I'm sure the tenant has not paid - but I was told that although it could be requested, the chances are it is going to be denied.

So I feel like my attorney has dragged his feet, and is simply lying in order to charge me the "half a day" court appearance fee.

Can somebody shed light some light on the validity of his several claims. Could we have avoided the court appearance? Is it possible to push the case back?

Thank in advance!