QuestionThank you Dr., I learned and received more pertinent information with you and joining the website that apply directly to numerous areas of my claim. I got more out of your reply back to me than I ever got out of the now EX attorney. I only wish I had found you and the site sooner and could have prevented the mess I find myself in today.
Background: Nov 2006 I was hit broadside on the driver’s side of my van by a 19yr old that ran a yield sign knocked me in a 180 degree mid-air turn, slamming me sideways into a curb with both mag wheels back into the air down again bending all 4 tires inward like a broken Hot Wheel and hurling my dog from the back of van into the front floorboard. My Dr. said it was the equivalent of having 3 separate bad wrecks in 1 because of the variable G-forces and angles from each impact that caused my 6 injuries, which still need reparative surgeries. The tortfeasor was chased down at the scene by a witness because he kept going in an attempt to get to work. His statements at the scene included: He was late to work, on the phone with friend he stated he just had the car re-painted from previous accident. The police and ambulance were called by other witnesses and I did refuse transport at the scene because they said my dog would need to go to the pound. I made other arrangements for the dog and was driven by a friend to a local ER room for evaluation. Witnesses at the scene, working at the convenience store, said that this same driver “did this all the time” causing other drivers to slam on brakes or avert collision so that he could crossover 3 lanes of traffic to pull into parking lot of his work. I hired an attorney within a week on the advice of a friend due to multiple injuries and both vehicles having the same insurance company. I clearly (although very emotionally) conveyed to the attorney that I wanted to make sure the tortfeasor was cited for his multiple rules of the road violations, witness information taken by my friend was handed over to him, along with all other information. “No problem we will take care of this for you” haunt me today. At the time of the accident I was 46 year old self-employed married landscaper in excellent condition and who’s only previous medical consisted of a touch of bursitis in right shoulder and one ER visit for an elbow laceration I received while in the woods hunting. I have had the same insurance policy since the age of 18 with guaranteed renewal. I take rules of the road seriously and highly resented the attitude of the tortfeasor driving the Lexus under his parents policy. I was released from the ER after multiple X-rays of the neck, back, hip etc showed no acute fractures. My attorney suggested I see “his people” to rehab and get me back on my feet again. After months of rehab with “his people” I continued to worsen and began research for other alternatives to care. I found a well respected orthopedic clinic in my area and went for evaluation and relief. They found multiple issues (bilateral rotator cuff, wrist bone fragments, cervical, thoracic, and lumbar herniations etc). Most notable at this time was the argument I had with my attorney when he found out that I given out information on my PIP ($10, 000) and health insurance and because I said I was in an accident. He was furious and told me they would suck all the money out of my PIP. I had no idea how all this worked nor care about anything except getting better and back to work at the time. My mistake. “No problem we will take care of this for you, you just send in the updates and bills”. During this time I also inquired about PIP for lost wages and was told that money was “exhausted” . What I did not know at the time was the attorney had pulled out 1/3 for a “trust account contigency”. Meanwhile, I struggled with a painful rehab, lack of income, constant pain, stress etc. We had multiple arguments with me demanding results, follow-up on holding the tortfeasor accountable and him telling me that I needed to take it easy and heal myself. “No problem we will take care of this for you, this is all we do”. Now with pain, lack of income, rehab, loss of consortium etc.by the end of Oct 2008 I was using the same firm (different attorney) to handle my divorce. I also requested all correspondence from the personal injury attorney regarding my case since we had disagreement on settling the case for tortfeasor policy limits ($50, 000). At the time my medical had exceeded this amount plus the attorney wanted $16, 666.00 and he “negotiated” with my health insurance carrier to reduce their fee to $16, 666.00 with the right to claim the balance under my UIM policy, and some outstanding medical bills. He told me that in order to go forward I would have to sign the general release, that the kid did not have assets, and that I would not be a good witness since I had no visible sign of disfigurement such as a missing leg or such that would endear me to a jury and “everyone in America has a bad back. My dad tried to intervene and we continued the argument through the statue of limitation deadline. By the 2nd of December I made it to the office and was forced to sign the waiver to even receive the tortfeasor policy limit. The notarized signature was back dated to accomplish this, by the way. I demanded that the owner of the firm take over the case since I could no longer work with this attorney. He assured me that this would be done. I had numerous issues over and above suing the tortfeasor that concerned me after reviewing the case file. At this time I also began to try and get things in writing because I could no longer even talk to this attorney
1) did not attempt to file with the court within the SOL even though I disagreed (have it in email
2) Sent a demand letter to the tortfeasor insurance company (with errors) that consisted of a tally of expenses, list of doctors and one sentence “call me once you have had a chance to review the enclosed documents, so that we may discuss settlement of this claim, Sincerely, ___.”
3) Letter(s) of protection for “his people”
4) No pictures of vehicle, accident scene or gathering of braking and landing distances, no witness statements, no police follow-up, no stress research on vehicles hit broadside and turn 180 degrees etc
5) Asset check consisted of printout from Publicdata.com listing drivers at address and appraisal district for home value (this in Sept 2008).
6) Had me sign back-dated release telling me there was no other option
7) Assured me that medical insurance had no further subrogation interest going forward which I later found to be untrue and that they knew this fact.
8) Same attorney/paralegal continued work on my case after I requested their termination. They did one (1) thing…sent the same demand letter to my auto insurer that was sent to the tortfeasor insurance along with same errors.
9) Numerous factual and spelling errors when communicating with professionals.(wrong SS, dates, mixing information etc)
I finally sent faxes and certified letters to make sure I completely got them off the case. I asked for a full accounting of all funds via certified letter after I was told in an email that he did not have to account for his time since the case was “contingency”.They copied my case file and left it open at the front desk for me to pick-up and sent a letter to my insurance adjuster stating “I am releasing you from your contract with our firm. Please note that we will be maintaining a lien against any claims you may have”.
I have had to review and contact everyone involved in my case in order to make sure things were taken care of properly. I finally received the missing $3800.00 PIP which I believe they were hiding with some fancy accounting.
I have been in contact (written only) with my insurance adjuster who offered me my Policy Limit on UIM (100,000) but with subrogation from medical insurance and the lien from the attorney. My insurance adjuster has no idea what the amounts are but asserts that he has does have the right to “protect their lien”. I am overwhelmed. I have lost my income, home, health and health insurance while I try and fight this battle on different fronts. Any further assist is appreciated
AnswerDear Rick,
Thank you for the kind remarks in Feedback; I appreciate that. And thanks also for joining www.SettlementCentral.Com insurance claim settlement help. Your membership in SCC will yield you benefits to get some money back from your attorney and to make him pay if he gave away your rights to defend against your PIP and health insurer's subrogation.
For visitors, here is the insurance subrogation http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0459.htm free help subrogation information page. For you, as a member, go to the SCC members' side home page and access the Subrogation Module, top right side. Get some ideas there, and be prepared to discuss your case with me privately. We do not want our ideas out here in public, and since you are a member of www.SettlementCentral.Com self help insurance claims, we can work together via e-mails.
Your case is a GROSS EXAMPLE OF ATTORNEY ABUSE, and Doctor Settlement helps injured accident victims who have been taken advantage of by personal injury attorneys. Since you are a member of SettlementCentral.Com, I will give you special and full attention of value many times your cost of SCC membership. We who founded www.SettlementCentral.Com are trial attorneys, and we stand firm for our SCC members against other attorneys who abuse their clients. Hence, you can expect that I am going to give you a lot of ideas to FIGHT YOUR ATTORNEY AND THE SUBROGATION DEFENSE WAIVER HE AGREED TO.
For starters, it looks like he DID NOT EARN his one-third contingency fee, based upon the rules of professional responsibility, which TRUMP his contract with you. In addition, there is the possibility of malpractice if he gave away your defenses to subrogation in order to collect on the tortfeasor's limits. More information is needed on how that decision went down.
Here is what I need from you: the total amounts of your medicals, a scanned copy of the demand letter your attorney sent out, the amount paid by your PIP, your provable wage loss, the amount paid by your health insurance, the amounts billed by "his" providers versus the amounts paid to them by your health insurance, the amounts still claimed by "his" providers as owing to them, any surgeries recommended, any long-term continuing problems you may have, ANY subrogagtion paid out of the $50K limits, and ALL subrogation claimed right now, the amount of the attorney lien filed on your settlement (he MUST have sent you a copy—or else ask your insurance adjuster).
I was going to give you a call directly, but found that you did not list your phone number when you became a member of SCC, so can you please e-mail me at our site. Put in the message that you are a member responding to Dr. Settlement, and that way the staff will send it directly to my e-mail.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
