Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in California

Re: Acceptance of Settlement

I can't answer the first part of your question, as I cannot decipher where the $3474 comes from.

However, I can answer the last part. The settlement cannot be in parts. When you accept money from an insurance company, they will ask you to sign a release, which means the case is over, and you cannot get a further settlement.

Also, the insurance company will not offer money indefinitely, and it will withdraw its offer.

This is all legal.

Follow your attorney's advice. If you don't agree with your attorney, you can always fire him/her and get another attorney.

Good luck!

Re: Acceptance of Settlement

I think what you're asking is that your attorney wants to withhold part of the $40k settlement for doctors' bills and the attorney's expenses. This is normal. If you dispute what your attorney wants to withhold, the attorney would have to keep the disputed amount of the settlement in trust, disburse to you and to the attorney the undisputed amount, and then you could negotiate with the doctors and attorney or you could go to bar association arbitration to get it resolved.

Re: Acceptance of Settlement

Ask the attorney how he calculated what you obtain; ask for a disbursal statement showing where the monies go. If you want to accept the insurance companies settlement you can tell your attorney to do so but you will NOT be able to continue to negotiate with the insurance company (assuming it is the adverse driver's insurance, not your own).

If you want to accept the settlement and negotiate with the attorney, that you can do.

Re: Acceptance of Settlement

Your question really doesn't make much sense. The insurance company isn't going to pay you $40,000 without a full release. They aren't going to you pay you $40,000 and let you try to negotiate more. It sounds like you need to have a "heart to heart" talk with your attorney to see if your settlement expectations are too high.