Legal Question in Personal Injury in Texas

My 20 yr. old daughter was injured in an accident 2 yrs. ago. The insured driver settled with her lawyer, now her lawyer has a settlement check ready for her to pick up; however, he insists on setting aside monies to pay her medical debt himself; in other words, rather than letting her pay these bills, which are coming directly to her, in her name. Is this legal? Does she have to do it this way? Something seems fishy about this, and, frankly, we don't trust this guy. HELP, PLEASE ;(

Asked on 4/06/10, 9:22 am

3 Answers from Attorneys

Keith Engelke Law Office of S. Keith Engelke

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This is legitimate. If the attorney gave the money to you and you did not pay the medical expenses, then the providers could come after the attorney.

Answered on 4/11/10, 9:42 am

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In many cases, a clinic will not provide health care services to an uninsured patient unless the patient's lawyer promises to pay the clinic's bills out of the settlement. The clinic may ask the lawyer for a letter promising to pay (this is called a letter of protection.) In other cases, the clinics have the patients sign an assignment of benefits (AOB) in which the clinic has a lien on the case. In either event, the lawyer has to pay the bills from the settlement. If the lawyer gave all the money to your daughter, and she chose not to pay, the providers could come after the lawyer (in the first scenario) or the lawyer and insurance company (in the second scenario.) This would make it impossible to settle cases.

If you are suspicious, your daughter can always request copies of the bills herself and compare them to the settlement worksheet that her lawyer provided.

Answered on 4/11/10, 12:12 pm

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