Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Your husband can find another attorney if he chooses. The new attorney will notify the first attorney that he no longer represents your husband. However, the first attorney may have a lien against any settlement or award received by your husband for his time spent on the matter.

It may be advisable for your husband to visit the first attorney and discuss his concerns.

Good luck.

Let me make something very clear that the previous responder did not explain: you can always move to another attorney at NO COST to you! The former attorney gets paid from the same percentage as the new attorney. You do NOT have to give away any more of your case just because you want to switch lawyers.

It sounds to me like your current lawyer is not explaining the case to you very well, and not doing the basic follow-up required for this kind of case. The first thing I do is confirm the existence of insurance! As to medical care, I don't just send people to doctors willy-nilly without even talking to the client about what's going on. It sound like your husband's injuries could be serious. If you want to discuss the case in more detail, you can contact me directly at 877-LION-FOR-LAW (546-6367) with no obligation.

You can always change attorneys without financial penalty to you. The real issue is to have one you trust and feel comfortable with. Your case value is determined by your damages, which means your medical related expenses and permanent disability or injury, and your out of pocket expenses like wage loss. So, if you don't have need for medical treatment or therapy, and you didn't suffer permanent disability, and you didn't lose a lot of time from work, the value is not going to be substantial. The next issue is whether the defendants [driver AND registered owners] have any insurance to pay you, or have assets or income to collect against or pay a settlement from. Yes, your attorney needs to figure out those issues and discuss them with you. Now, if serious about getting a second opinion or changing counsel, feel free to contact me.

In California, the owner of the vehicle, even though not driving it, is liable for up to $15,000 of the damages. If they let an unsafe driver use the vehicle, then they also may be liable without any limit for negligent entrustment. If they do not have more than a $15,000 policy, if your own car insurance has under or uninsured motorist coverage, you may be able to collect from your own insurance. Depending on when and why he was walking to work, he might be covered under Workers' Compensation also [there are exceptions for the so called "going and coming from work" rule]. If your current attorney has not told you about these avenues of possible recovery or done nothing about them, and it has been more than a few weeks since they were retained by you, find another attorney. Do not worry about the first attorney trying to collect a portion of the ultimate attorney fees, especially since they may be too embarrassed about their lack of performance to ask.

You received some good advice from the lawyers on this board. First, the law says you pay ony ONE lawyer fee even if you change 10 lawyers. Second, the parents of the kid who hit your husband are on the hook for negligent entrustment. Third, try and work out your differences with the current lawyer. If it doesn't work out, then shop for someone new. I do this kind of law and am rated on www.avvo.com. You should check out any new potential lawyer before you replace the existing one.

Good luck and wish your husband a speedy recovery.