Legal Question in Personal Injury in Washington

Re: Moller Law

I think your lawyer is talking about the "Mahler" case. Your own insurance company has apparently paid for some of your medical bills, under either a "med-pay" provision or "PIP," your Personal Injury Protection benefit, and Mahler addresses their reimbursement.

When your company pays medical bills under one of those provisions in a Washington auto insurance policy, then when the case settles, your lawyer is ALSO collecting to get your insurers money back -- that is, the money they spent on your medical bills, or possibly wage loss as well to the extent your PIP paid any.

As to this money your insurer paid under PIP or med-pay, the Mahler case says that your lawyer is entitled to his or her attorney fee on that portion of your settlement that goes to reimburse your insurer. The GOOD news is that the fee should be deducted from what is paid to your insurance company. In other words, THEY are effectively paying that attorney fee, not you.

Hope that helps! Make sure your lawyer explains this as well, since I obviously don't have your file in front of me.

Good luck,

-- Sam

Re: Moller Law

First thing you must do is pull out the agreement you entered into with this attorney when you hired him. If there is no written agreement, go straight to the Washington Bar Association and file a complaint. See www.wsba.org

Next, read the agreement carefully. Does the agreement say that he is to receive 34% of the medical amount? If it does, he is correct, and you didn't read the contract carefully enough when you signed it.

If what he is telling you is different from the contract, you have at least two options.

One is to write to your attorney and ask him to point out where in the contract it says that. If you want, you can also ask for a copy of the decision he's referring to. Or, at the very least, ask how it's spelled and the citation.

The other option is to go to the bar association.

I sincerely hope that you are able to resolve this with this attorney and that it is just a misunderstanding. But if you are unable to get this resolved, the bar may provide free mediation between you and your attorney. They will also impose sanctions if he violated the rules for professional conduct.

Good luck,

Merry

Re: Moller Law

When I read your question, I was imagining the following scenario:

You've been awarded $15,000 in general damages and $6,000 to pay for unpaid medical costs.

You thought your attorney would receive $5,000, which is 1/3 of the $15,000 general damages. Your attorney has told you no, the TOTAL recovered is $21,000, and I get $7,000. So you're receiving $8,000 but you thought you were going to get $10,000.

If that's what the scenario is, I stand by my comments in my first posting. If it's what Mr. Hochberg described, I completely agree with him.

By the way, keep in mind that any advice you receive through LawGuru is worth the price you pay for it - and that no attorney/client relationship in any way or shape has been formed.

Good luck,

Merry