A law firm that represented former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani through years of investigations and litigation has filed its own lawsuit against the controversial politician, seeking more than $1.3 million in unpaid legal fees.According to CNN, in its complaint, law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron says that Giuliani has, to date, paid only $214,000 of his overall legal bill, leaving him with an outstanding balance of about $1,360,196.The firm claims that these fees cover work it performed on cases relating to:

• A since-closed investigation into a federal criminal investigation;

• January 6th investigations led by George state prosecutors;

• January 6th investigations led by the federal government, including the House of Representatives and a special counsel’s office; and

• Different lawsuits filed against Giuliani, most related to his alleged role in attempts at election interference.

Giuliani’s last payment to Davidoff Hutcher & Citron was for about $10,000, paid four days before the lawsuit was filed.

Rudy Giuliani campaigning for former President Donald Trump. Image via Wikimedia Commons via Flickr. User:Gage Skidmore. (CCA-BY-2.0).

 The former New York City mayor has since issued a statement saying that he is personally “hurt” by the firm’s actions.“I can’t express how personally hurt I am by what Bob Costello has done,” Giuliani said, referring to long-term friend and Davidoff Hutcher partner Robert Costello. “It’s a real shame when lawyers do things like this, and all I will say is that their bill is way in excess to anything approaching legitimate fees.”Davidoff Hutcher, notes CNN, has also represented Steve Bannon, against whom it recently secured a court order directing the former White House strategist to pay about $500,000 in past-due legal fees.That lawsuit was filed in February, with its base claims largely similar to those now made against Giuliani.In granting Davidoff Hutcher’s request to compel payment from Bannon, the court observed that Bannon had clearly signed a retainer agreement, and that Bannon did “not adequately assert that he timely objected to […] invoices.”Davidoff Hutcher’s lawsuit against Giuliani points out that the former mayor had also signed a retainer agreement, dated to November 2019. In the years since, Giuliani “never raised any objection regarding the correctness of the invoices, the amount billed or that they were issued.”CNN reports that, while Donald Trump’s political action committee recently paid off more than $300,000 in other unpaid fees for Giuliani, this amount is not likely to have any impact on what he owes.Giuliani may also be liable for more than $100,000 in court-ordered sanctions, and is still awaiting a jury trial to determine damages in the same claim.

Sources

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