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  • Report:  #1526824

Complaint Review: Allison C. Lartigue LLC - Houston Texas

Reported By:
Jeff - United States
Submitted:
Updated:

Allison C. Lartigue LLC
12333 Sowden Rd Ste B Houston, 77080-2059 Texas, United States
Phone:
713) 585-0770
Web:
https://mycpa.cpa.state.tx.us/coa/
Categories:
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This is a complaint alleging fraud against a 32-year-old woman named Allison Camille Lartigue, who professes to be a “Certified Litigation Paralegal” through her own Limited Liability Company (Allison C. Lartigue LLC) and while working for Hicks Thomas LLP (700 Louisiana Street, Suite 2300, Houston, TX 77002) since March 2021.

I first met Lartigue on Upwork (upwork.com) on January 30, where she submitted a proposal for a job posting. I read Lartigue’s Upwork profile and she seemed promising, with an 89% success rating and a promised 24-hour response time, although the comments on her reviews seem (in retrospect) to apply to someone else, as she was not honest, demonstrated no integrity, seemed unable to proofread her own work, displayed little knowledge of law, and failed to meet critical deadlines. In reviewing her profile, my main concern was that she had 29 other projects ongoing so might not have time to devote to help. Nevertheless, she responded quickly to my invitation—almost too soon for my liking.

Immediately, Lartigue wanted to moved offsite and asked twice to call her at the number she gave me (713-585-0770). After some introductory chat, Lartigue gave a first warning sign by degrading Upwork (“where they are going to charge you more money and they are going to take 20% of my pay”) and suggesting we work through a direct contract outside of Upwork. I specifically asked if that was permitted, but she assured me it was “technically” allowed so long as the contracts “are done a certain way,” which she did not specify. She claimed all she asked from her clients was “a 50% retainer upfront,” because she had “bad experiences with people.” She wanted me to know she was an “honest hardworking person” who was only “trying to save us a few bucks.” Taking her at her word that such an arrangement was proper and permissible, we exchanged email addresses, and she promised to send me an Employment Contract for a “Phase 1 document review that will lead into other projects.” She then swerved into Payment options, and I said I had used Remitly and bank transfers. As a second warning sign, she played dumb and asked, “How do we do bank transfers?,” which you would assume any professed legal professional would know how to do. When I explained the process, she hedged and then said we could use Remitly. We agreed on $400 for document review and she insisted again on payment upfront

As a third warning sign, it took Lartigue 4 drafts of a simple 2-page contract before it could be approved—making mistakes with the spelling of names, getting dates wrong, and being unable to make simple corrections as to prices agreed to. On January 31, I pointed out to her that “I am trying to understand, but this is not one typo but multiple typos that make me VERY nervous. These are your contracts so should be a formality to draft.” In response, Lartigue became defensive and stated that she was a single mother and saying, “I am trying to understand why you are not giving me any leniency for the fact that it’s 3:25 in the morning and I am still awake to try to get this contract to go through.” A fourth warning sign arose when Lartigue gave me two different account and routing numbers—one account on January 30 at 4:50 PM and then a second account on January 31 at 8:47 AM that she denied giving me as of January 31 at 8:53 AM. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, told her I would make the transfer, but would not sign the contract until we agreed to talk again on January 31.

Lartigue promised the work would be finished by February 2, but did nothing. From January 31 through February 15, she repeatedly and falsely claimed that monies transferred into her bank account through Remitly never arrived, even though her bank (JPMorgan Chase in Houston) confirmed to the wiring service that the funds in question had been deposited on January 31. When Remitly asked Lartigue to produce a bank statement from January 31 through February 15, proving that no funds had been deposited, she refused and disappeared.

Remitly suggested I report Lartigue as a scammer so that she could be blocked in the Remitly system, and then Remitly would try to help me get my money back. Following a complaint by me, Upwork also permanently banned her from their site (“I am pleased to confirm that since your report, our Trust & Safety team have already conducted a full review of Allison's Upwork account and taken action against her as appropriate to permanently remove her from the platform, as her actions constituted a serious violation of our Terms of Use."). Hicks-Thomas confirmed she was no longer working at their firm and had actually left in September 2022, so her CV stating otherwise is a fraud. The State of Texas also claims they do not have a business listing for the LLC she claims to own.

Furthermore, according to the Chair of the Professional Ethics Committee of the Paralegal Division of the State Bar of Texas, "a search of the paralegal certifying organizations (TBLS, NFPA, NALA, and NALS) does not reflect that she is a certified paralegal." According to the Chair, "non-attorneys may not offer their service directly to the public. Freelance paralegals may only offer their services to attorneys." As a non-attorney on the Upwork site, Lartigue offered her services to the public directly, without any supervision by an attorney.

She has ignored multiple attempts to contact her by email and on WhatsApp since February 16, confirming she is a con artist. She is now posting her “services” on Craigslist, giving multiple fake locations across the US, offering legal services that she is not allowed to offer as a non-attorney, so she appears to be searching for more victims.

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2 Updates & Rebuttals

Jeff

Virginia,
United States
Fraudulent rebuttal

#2Author of original report

Thu, February 08, 2024

This alleged rebuttal is not a rebuttal at all but a ludicrous unhinged rant against someone named Davonne Thomas who I have never heard of, The facts are as alleged, documented extensively, and have been sent to various regulatory agencies; they include the following:

1, Lartigue never performed any work for free but took money for work never performed--falsely claiming funds sent to her bank account never arrived, when, in fact, the financial sender repeatedly confirmed the deposit. The financial sender also asked Lartigue to send her bank statement showing the funds in question never arrived and promptly went into hiding to avoid doing so.

2. Lartugue falsely represented herself as a CERTIFIED litigation paralegal not only on UPWORK but on Craigslist, but all certification agencies contacted deny she has any such credentials, stating categorically "We have contacted Ms. Lartigue as she is not a NALA Certified Paralegal.  She has agreed to stop using “certified” in her advertisements." Her alleged university through counsel has also stated "UHD does have a paralegal program (Paralegal Program | University of Houston-Downtown (uhd.edu)) but our records do not show [Lartigue] being in that program." The program in question amounts to a total of 18 weekend classes, which is like going to summer school to get a diving certificate.

3, Lartigue's CVs falsely list her as working for various large law firms in TEXAS on specific dates, The law firms in question deny her employment history and confirmed she was not employed by them on the dates her CVs show.

4. Lartigue was not only banned on UPWORK but by the financial sender who she defrauded out of money while lying about funds never deposited to her account.

5. The "services" Lartigue offers as a paralegal have been deemed by regulatory agencies to amount to the unauthorized pracice of law without legal supervision and without a license, which is why she is being sued by the authoritiIes: "A lawsuit is being sought against MS. Latrigue."

6. Lartigue had difficulty with spelling, dates, and the simplest of tasks that a trained puppy could undoubtedly perform better.

7. Lartigue is delusional and has never been threatened but is a proven scammer.


Allison

Houston,
Texas,
United States
Rebuttal Against Davonne Thomas' False and Disturbing Review by Allison Lartigue

#3REBUTTAL Individual responds

Wed, February 07, 2024

I am Allison Lartigue.  This is my response to Davonne Thomas' false, defamatory, and libelous accusations about me:

*It is pertinent to note that Davonne Thomas has threatened to kill me and my [protected family member] on at least three (3) occasions, and I have at least one of the incidents recorded.  I will upload all videos, text messages, and correspondence, to prove that Davonne Thomas' review of me could not be further from the truth.  Davonne Thomas is unstable, dangerous, a liar, and a thief, and is the type of criminal that you do not want to go near. She told me over several phone calls, back to back, on the same day, multiple times, "I am going to slaughter you and your ____."  I sent the Audio to the BBB, where Davonne also posted false allegations about me,  

1. I did not, at any time, state or infer to Davonne Thomas that I am an Attorney.  This is evident in our email exchanges, and my UpWork Profile, where I clearly state that I am a "Litigation Paralegal." I never stated to Davonne Thomas that I currently work for a big Law Firm in Texas.  I would like to request that Davonne Furnish proof of her allegations that I misrepresented myself as an Attorney and that I stated that I was currently working at a big law Firm in Houston, Texas. 

2.  While we did connect through UpWork, I did not ask for Davonne Thomas' contact information.  Davonne Thomas volunteered her number. I will prove this in our UpWork chat. Davonne was in a state of panic because she claimed the same things about another Freelancer (that they frauded her...same old Davonne story).  Davonne stated that the assignment needed to be filed by the morning; Hence my call at 3 AM to discuss it in further detail.  I never called back to back (this can be proven in my phone records).  Davonne Thomas answered on the first call, and thanked me profusely for being willing to provide the service so late and accommodate the deadline of that morning.  

Regarding Davonne's Statement "Don't worry about going through the UpWork Platform...because I will be handling your case directly and you will get more for your money cause they won't charge you extra fees! - This is a flagrant lie.  Davonne states that she asked if this was ok to reach out to people directly.  Another flagrant lie.  She never asked me that.

Regarding Davonne's rant about payment, the truth is that we started an Initial Contract for a flat fee of $800.00; The Contract consisted of drafting an Answer, Opposition to a Motion to Dismiss, Objection to an Application to Writ of possession, Motion to Vacate, and a Fee Waiver that I completed for Ms. Thomas (free of charge).  I completed all of the work, as requested, and sent the final work product to Davonne Thomas who not only approved of it, but was very complimentary of it, as evidenced in our text messages.

I never called her on Tuesday, Dec. 26 at 2:00 am to ask her to review a Complaint.  This is another flagrant lie.  Furthermore, any work product I completed for Davonne did not have any grammatical or spelling issues.  I am confident of that.  I did get the case number incorrect, because Davonne Thomas is suing multiple people at the same time, and has so many cases ongoing, that it was a simple oversight on my part.  

"...She says, oh great. If you refer clients, then I will continue to work on your case for free to which I agreed!"  Part of this is true.  I did tell Dee, after she praised my work product and referred me to others, that I was happy to complete the rest of the case for free.  However, Dee did not accept my offer (as evidenced in our text messages), stating explicitly, on Jan 4 at 12:01 PM "No, you will still charge me you are a blessing and you will be rewarded for your blessings." 

Dee sent me multiple text messages, suddenly stating "The paperwork you sent me on Wednesday si not been received by the Court?" I responded by stating it was filed.  Dee received the Notice that she refers to because it Courts always send out notices of filings. (I never claimed that I needed another $400.00 immediately in order to file the document).  The final payment of $400.00 was the final payment pursuant to our Agreement for a Contract of $800.00 in two separate payments - a deposit and final payment.

Davonne Thomas refused to make the final payment of $400.00, despite filing all of the work product that I submitted.  She is a liar and a crook.

Lastly - I am not banned from UpWork.  That is correct, I am not an Attorney, and have never misrepresented myself as an Attorney.  My Title is clearly "Litigation Paralegal" on UpWork, which Dee surely would have seen. Dee states that I illegally used Davonne Thomas' name to gain access to her Court records. Court records are a matter of public record.  This isn't illegal, but I also don't recall ever searching her Court records other than for purposes of the scope of the work I was assigned.  

To my knowledge I have worked with 4 members of this Group; Davonne Thomas, Sydney (Completed Assignment and No Issue), Tamra, and Pamela Shedd, who stole my work, filed it, and left an outstanding balance of $500.00, and has blocked my number now.  - no working relationship - she retained an Attorney. I will not comment on the other members of this group at this time.  

I categorically deny her allegations that I threatened harm to anyone - her, her family, or anyone.  I would never do that.  It is not my character.  Davonne also warned me that she was going to post awful reviews about me on every platform possible to ruin my professional and personal reputation.  I do not, for the life of me, understand why she became so angry.  

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