Not wrong does not mean right / No está mal no significa derecho

A few days ago, a young man brought in a letter he received from his attorney. The letter outlined a settlement that the other lawyer negotiated on his behalf. The young man and his family did not understand how it could be right that the attorney could receive so much while he received so little. They believed that the attorney’s fee would come out after everything else was paid. They were very upset because the attorney is getting paid the young man may still potentially pay out of pocket. This was frustrating for them, so we agreed to review what they had to see if we could explain or help. Upon our review, it appeared that the young man signed a lien with his insurance company and for whatever reason they were paying at an 88% rate, meaning insurance paid 88% of the provider’s bill, and the rest was left for the young man. Unfortunately, because of the lien, the client must pay back the insurance company for anything they paid. We would never have allowed him to agree to the lien. Regardless, he had to pay the balance and also pay his lawyer the full amount in the contract. So, once the attorney was reimbursed for costs and paid his contractual amount, the attorney received 3 times what the client got. While this is legal, it just doesn’t feel right. It certainly doesn’t to us.

While what the attorney above didn’t break any rules or act unethical, it doesn’t make it right. We always want to do want is right for our client. Sometimes that means we make less money. Sometimes, that means we end up working for pennies. But that’s why we are a firm of attorneys and paralegals that can sleep at night knowing we do everything we can to help our clients. On a car accident or work comp claim, we will never get paid more than our client gets.

If you need a law firm to get you through a work comp claim, car accident or any other injury matter then call Short and Daugherty at 618-254-0055.