AboutDoctor Settlement Expertise 27 years of front line plaintiff`s trial lawyer experience in PERSONAL INJURY INSURANCE CLAIMS. Along with other attorneys and insurance adjusters, we have created a website to help injured people settle their own personal injury claims. With the help from feedback from hundreds of satisfied members, www.settlementcentral.com has become THE AUTHORITY for Internet personal injury insurance claim settlements. I am humbled and honored if people can benefit from my experience and current volunteer work in helping injured people. I hope I can explain things in a manner that is useful for the questioner. If not, do not hesitate to e-mail me and I will take a second shot at it! Best Wishes for your physical and financial recovery.
Experience
Life Experience: 27 years of front line plaintiff's trial lawyer experience
Organizations: American Trial Lawyers Association (AAJ)
Washington State Trial Lawyers Association
Awards and Honors:
I am humbled and honored everytime I am selected to help injured people. And when people give feedback that they have benefited from my experience and current volunteer efforts, then that is a double honor and award for me.
Question I live in Queens, NY and I was a passenger in a car accident four years ago. I chose a lawyer, we sued, and after a year I was given a check for $6000. This week, I received a letter from a collection agency stating that I owe $444 for ambulance services from the FDNY. I never received any bill from the FDNY before. I called the collection agency and they said I have to pay it. I also called the lawyer's office and they refused to take care of it. Now I am beginning to think that the way they handled my case is questionable, including the way I received my check. Is there a way I can check or request to see statements that were paid and the official results of the settlement? All I received was what looked like a personal check in the lawyer's name. I am worried that too much time has passed and I will be stuck paying this bill. Thank you for any help you can give.
Answer Hi Natalia,
The attorney must make arrangements for payment of all outstanding bills before she disburses settlement money to the client. You MUST also receive a disbursement breakdown for you to approve prior to disbursement. I am going to suggest that if things were all done in a reasonable way, you probably do owe that amount.
By that I mean, if that $444 cost were included within the demand letter, and if the attorney fees were figured fairly, and if you would have paid it at disbursement but for the staff overlooking it, you probably do owe that cost.
BUT only IF all three of those above are true. In other words, it was your debt to begin with, and you should have been made to pay it when the money was disbursed. Why should their error inure to your benefit and thus make the attorney liable for a debt that was rightfully yours?
BUT, if things were a little bit different than as set forth above, then I think that you should not only fight against that $444 debt, I think you might consider going to a fee mediation service via your State Bar Association. This would be to dispute fees taken, if you had the conditions that I will describe below regarding unearned attorney fees on the gross award.
You need to write a letter Sent Via Certified Mail to the attorney, with a copy to the collection agency. Ask for that disbursement breakdown I mentioned. Also ask for a copy of your professional services agreement AND a copy of the demand letter that they sent out.
First place to look is in the demand letter. If the ambulance bill was not included among the special damages, then a strong argument can be made that the attorney failed in her presentation of your claim and that she thus owes this item of special damages herself.
Next, look at the disbursement sheet to see how the fees were calculated and how the costs and bills owing were presented. Specifically look to see if the fees were calculated on the gross award or the net award. Refer to the professional services agreement to see if it is specified whether fees will be taken against the gross or the net award.
The gross award includes everything, whereas the net award is the total amount less the subrogation paid to reimburse your own insurer for the medial costs it advanced. Here is a page of excellent subrogation information http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0459.htm insurance medical payments paid back.
Here is the deal on gross versus net. Let's say that your total settlement was $24,000, and that you suffered $1,000 in lost wages and that your insurer paid $9,000 in medical treatment. That means that your general damages (i.e. pain and suffering) was awarded in the amount of $14,000. If the fees were $8,000, which is one-third of the gross, and if those three conditions I cited were true, then the fees should have been computed only on the work "done", which would be the $1,000 wage loss and the $14,000 general damage award. This would yield a fee of only $5,000 actually earned, NOT the $8,000 she took.
If the liability was clear, and if the need for the treatment was clear, and if the treatment costs were reasonable, WHY IN EARTH SHOULD AN ATTORNEY CHARGE ONE DIME TO DO WHAT A BLIND DOG WITH A NOTE IN ITS MOUTH COULD DO FOR FREE??
In other words, if you gave a blind dog a note to settle out that medical treatment costs part of the claim, and if the facts regarding clear liability and clear need for treatment and clear reasonableness of costs were as I stated above, then there would be no need whatsoever for an attorney in collecting that subrogated amount. There is no "work" to be done inasmuch as that amount would be readily conceded.
Hence, why should you pay one dime for that so-called "work", when in fact there really was no "work" done whatsoever in collecting that subrogated amount? And, worse yet, you will not even see that money inasmuch as it is going to be paid to your insurance company.
Hence, if the facts are similar to those I have stated, then I think you MUST petition your State Bar Association to mediate a fee adjustment. Here is why. You paid one-third to collect that $9,000 subrogated amount. Why should the attorney get $3,000 when there was no dispute regarding the reasonableness of the medical costs?
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU OWE YOUR ATTORNEY FOR WHAT SHE DID TO DATE?
Your professional services agreement IS NOT binding when the Rules of Professional Conduct dictate a different attorney fee.
TO ACHIEVE A FAIR AND REASONABLE PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY FEE, LEARN AND CITE your State Rules of Professional Conduct REGARDING REASONABLE LEGAL FEES. Your State Bar Association http://www.settlementcentral.com/links.php can help you with this, and I would not hesitate to contact them ASAP.
NO MATTER WHAT YOUR FEE AGREEMENT SAYS, YOUR STATE BAR ASSOCIATION IS NOT GOING TO LET YOUR ATTORNEY ABUSE YOU BY TAKING A FEE HIGHLY DISPROPORTIONATE TO THE WORK INVOLVED!
Here is the guidance direct from the site of the Washington State Bar Association, one of the leading institutions of its kind in the nation. www.wsba.org. This is for illustrative purposes, but your State Bar Association will likely have the same or similar content.
Factors in Determining Reasonable Legal Fees (NOTE, MY COMMENTS WILL BE IN CAPS FOLLOWING CERTAIN FACTORS)
There are a number of factors involved in establishing a reasonable legal fee according to the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers. They include:
1. the time and labor required, (HOW MANY HOURS SHOULD IT HAVE TAKEN TO DO WHATEVER IT IS SHE DID?)
2. the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved, (SIMPLE TASKS HERE?)
3. the skill required to perform the legal service, (MINIMAL?)
4. the terms of any fee agreement between the lawyer and the client,
5. the fee customarily charged locally for similar legal services,
6. the likelihood, if clear to the client, that the acceptance of the particular employment will preclude the lawyer from accepting other employment;
7. the amount involved and the results obtained, (COULD THE SAME RESULTS HAVE BEEN "ACHIEVED" BY A BLIND DOG WITH A DEMAND LETTER IN HIS MOUTH?)
8. the time limitations imposed by the client or the circumstances;
9. the nature and length of the professional relationship with the client;
10. the experience, reputation, and ability of the lawyer, and
11. whether the fee agreement or any confirming writing demonstrates that the client received a reasonable and fair disclosure of material elements of the fee agreement and the lawyer's billing practices.
These, or very similar rules have been adopted by your own State Supreme Court, and your own State Bar Association does a service to the public by providing both access to the rules AND two forums for clients to enforce them versus their attorneys regarding fee disputes.
Note that this is NOT just something that the attorney may or may not agree with: HE IS DUTY-BOUND TO COMPLY WITH THESE RULES. The preamble to the rules states as follows:
”The Rules of Professional Conduct are MANDATORY in character. The rules state the minimum level of conduct below which no lawyer can fall without being subject to disciplinary action."
As I said, this pertains in YOUR STATE ALSO, so do not be afraid to confront your attorney on this topic.
GIVEN THAT GUIDANCE, WHAT SHOULD YOUR PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY RECEIVE FOR HER FEES FOR WORK DONE?
I would wonder whether your attorney really has "done" any legal work to date that merits a fee based upon the "going rate" for legal work in your community. If all three conditions I mentioned above regarding the subrogated payment of $9,000, then I would contend that there was no work "done" as to that part of the claim.
She did work to recover your $1,000 lost wages and to recover the $14,000 in general damages, and hence her fee should be only one-third of $15,000 or $5,000.
CONSIDER YOUR STATE BAR ASSOCIATON FORUMS FOR RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES WITH ATTORNEYS
Obviously I do not know what your own state bar association has in place for resolution of fee disputes, but I present the following as pretty typical throughout the country.
In the event your attorney still tries to hold out for a fee of more than $1,000 for just writing a few letters, he should consider requesting participation in one of the forums sponsored by your State Bar Association. The Bar usually provides two forums for attorney versus client disputes. The first one is mediation and the second one is arbitration. Both are voluntary, but most attorneys who are asked to participate get the hint real quick and agree to go through the process.
I favor starting with mediation. It is informal and I do not believe that your attorney will really need the mandatory binding nature of arbitration. Once he gets the notice that you are considering State Bar Association mediation, his attitude will improve immediately.
The Mediation Program is offered to help settle of disputes informally and promptly with the assistance of a neutral third-party mediator.
Often disputes arise out of a misunderstanding concerning the expectations and responsibilities of the parties. These disputes may be settled agreeably once a dialogue is established. Mediators strive for open communication, with the understanding that the mediator is not acting as a lawyer or fact finder, but as a neutral individual whose purpose is to facilitate settlement between the parties.
The person beginning the process pays around $75 as a filing fee. The other side, if he or she agrees to mediate, also pays a $75 filing fee. MEDIATION IS NOT BINDING ON THE PARTIES.
ARBITRATION
Your State Bar Association fee arbitration program has only one purpose: to decide the fair and reasonable value of the lawyer's legal services for a client. The program is not mandatory for either lawyers or clients. Fee arbitration does not occur unless both parties agree to arbitrate and agree on the amount in dispute.
The filing fee depends on the amount in dispute. If the amount in dispute is under $10,000 the filing fee for each party is usually around $75. If the amount in dispute is $10,000 or over, the filing fees are usually around $125. FEE ARBITRATION IS BINDING ON THE PARTIES.
I trust that my extra time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
