Legal Question in Personal Injury in Florida

Attorney's fees

I was involved in a personal injury claim some years ago. My case was settled for what my attorney believed to be "policy limits". Almost five years later I am notified by the attorney that represented me that what we thought then to be their policy limits were not! This is a MAJOR insurance company...who, from what I understand, made this mistake with hundreds of claims during the same time my claim was settled. Without any problems they have agreed to pay me the remainder of their policy limits on their insured, plus interest. My question is this, I of course paid my attorney his fee when we originally settled this case....In light of this new development, is it lawful for this attorney to charge me again for the same case?


Asked on 3/30/00, 8:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Christopher Wigand Fenster & Faerber

Re: Attorney's fees

That is a really good question that I wish I knew the correct answer to. The Rules of Professional Conduct state that a lawyer can not charge a fee that is unreasonable, overreaching, or an unconscionable demand. You have to look at factors like how much time the lawyer spent working on the case and how difficult it was. Also a lot of it i sgoing to depend on how much money we are now talking about. If it is a little amount I probably would write it off to maintain client relations but a larger amount might be different if the lawyer was not reasonably compensated the first time around. Had he known the true limits the first time and made the full recovery he would have been entitled to the fee. So you see it is a hard situation that I wish I knew the answer to. That is probablya question that should be taken up with the Bar, they have a service where you can call and ask ethice questions without telling them who you or your attorney is.

But more importantly what Insurance Company is this? It sounds like a great class action lawsuit.

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Answered on 4/15/00, 12:45 pm


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