Legal Question in Criminal Law in California
can attorney fee's be paid from insurance co.?
can i request that my attorney fee's be paid by the insurance company i settle with? and if i'm not satisfied w/the settelment offer my attorney advise me to take can i request more or change attorney for an attorney that will get more money for me even thoygh one of the two cases was file in court?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: can attorney fee's be paid from insurance co.?
You can ask for whatever you want, but that doesn't mean you'll get it. Further, if you respond to the insurance company's offer with a counteroffer of your own, you will have rejected the offer and will not be able to accept it later.
Defendants usually don't have to pay a plaintiff's attorney fees. The insurance company cannot be required to do anything that would not have been required of the defendant himself. If you have no legal right to recover your fees, the insurance company is very unlikely to pay them for you.
In principle you have the right to fire your attorney and get a new one. Keep in mind, though, that your current attorney has now earned his fee and will still be entitled to it regardless of what you do. It would be unjust if you could deprive him of payment for his services by firing him at this late stage.
The new attorney will also want to be paid, and there is no guarantee she will be able to get you any more money than is currently on the table. You may even end up getting a smaller settlement depending upon how the negotiations go. Rejecting the settlement offer and/or replacing your lawyer could end up costing you a lot of money.
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