Lawyers = Legal Crooks

[Way2slow]

My wife had an incident about a year ago, where she slipped in a big puddle of goo that was running out of the trash can in one of the big burger chains.  She had to go to an emergency care clinic, where they said she had jammed and hyper extended her thumb and severely bruised her hip.  Tricare wanted an a statement from them because of our insurance and they made out like it never happened and blew her off and lied about giving it to her at the time of the incident.  When my wife looked in the envelope they had given her, what they gave her was a piece of paper saying the wasn't charging her for the meal.

After months of rehab, surgery, and physical therapy, she got tired of trying to deal with them and talked to a well known personal injury lawyer in the area.  He agreed she had a strong case so she signed a contract with him to handle the case.  This was all her doings without me knowing until after the fact.

After all was said and done, the lawyer that had her sign a contract, didn't even deal with those types of small suits.  He farmed it out to another lawyer that did, rather than just tell her he didn't do those cases and refer her to one that did.

Naturally, the insurance had to be reimbursed for everything they had to pay. 

Even though the first lawyer did nothing but get her name on a contract, he got 16% for doing nothing.  

The Lawyer that made and settled the case got his 35% and $1000 worth of filing fees.  Both of which were off the gross settlement. 

The insurance companies got all their money back plus a couple thousand extra, because they charged her for any medical care she had during that time, much of which was not even associated with that injury. 

When it was all said and done, my wife that had all the pain and suffering got reimbursed mileage and travel expenses she claimed for all the appointment trips and enough to buy her a couple more burgers. 

Her logic was, that's a few dollars more than she would have had if she had not made the suit.  My logic was I would have never messed with it just to make put bunch of easy money in the lawyers and insurance companies pockets.  The aggravation she went through getting all the documentation and paper work they wanted wasn't worth it. 

[slonezp]

I was left permanently disabled after a work injury just about 10 years ago. After all was said and done and everybody (lawyers, doctors, therapists, etc.) got their fair share, I got squat. 

[Deeare]

Should have called Saul 

[MN Fisher]

My one dealing with a lawyer, who was on my side vs a part of the government, went very well and I was entirely satisfied with his work.

 

Take it as you may.

[Koz]

You need to be really, really careful when choosing a personal injury lawyer. I think the best way is to get a referral from a family attorney if you have one.

 

The only lawyer I have dealt with is my divorce lawyer. He treated me fair and honest and he was spot on every step of the way. I had to use him for my divorce and the two subsequent custody battles when my ex kept trying to get custody.

[Way2slow]

I used one back when I was working.  The company I was working for was having financial problems and wanted me to cut my hours, and cut my pay.  Plus they wanted me to start being very dishonest with my billings to the customer to greatly increase the bill totals.  When I went to work for them, I had a contract that I would be paid for 40 hours per week, no matter the hours actually worked.  Some times that may have been 30, other times it might be 70, but I was guaranteed 40.  I was to start at $26 per hour and a 5% annual increase on the anniversary date.  I was with them for 7 years. 

I told them I was not cutting my pay, and was not going to start lying on my billings.

Naturally, they finally let me go, but lied to unemployment to try and keep from having to pay it.  

I hired a lawyer, said it would probably run between $650 and $750 to fight them.  I won the suit, and he handed me a bill for $1,900.  $900 for doing telephone interview with the character references I had supplied.   Several of them said he stayed on the phone over a 1/2 hour just BSing.   His secretary was sending me some kind of papers that really meant nothing every few days.  He was billing me $125 for each of those. 

 

 

[Junger]

It may be against the local ethics board if your lawyer farmed out your case without telling you. Standard is 33% goes to the PI lawyer, not 33% to one lawyer, and a 16% broker fee...unless you signed something agreeing to that arrangement. If it was never disclosed, it doesn't hurt to make an inquiry with the state bar association.

[Way2slow]

Like I said, she decided to do this without my knowing it.  I didn't even know she had signed a contract until I told her since it was not going into litigation, and her share was going to be so little, she might be able to get the lawyer to drop his fee to 30% or so, so she would get at least a little bit.  When she talked to him about that, was when I found out about the contract she had signed with the first lawyer for 45%.  Since she had signed a contract with the first lawyer, his hands were tied.  Anything he cut on his would go to the first lawyer.  Needless to say I was just a little P***d when I found out she had done that.  

I knew 33-35% was the norm if they didn't have to go to court with it is why I was telling her she might get him to give he a small discount since her share was almost nothing.  It ended up being a very simple case and his secretary did 99% of it, 

Then I find out about that stupid contract the first crook had her sign.  Knowing that was just going to be totally free money for him.

 

You have planted a seed though, I think I will see if that first lawyer could do what he did.  However, it was her that made the dealing and he may have told her up front he didn't handle those personally and had a representative that would be handling it for her.  

My wife get's these all knowing attitudes and anything I say to her means nothing.  A bum on the street can tell her something and that would over ride anything I said.

[Boomstick]

If the situation was that some son of a billionaire put that gooey substance there on purpose and was filming people slipping on it to put that on his Youtube feed, then I'd say go for it but it's generally not worth the headache. Lawyers also don't want small cases, they're out there to make the big money.

 

On the other hand sometimes lawyers do you a favor. Some years ago, my girlfriend got rear ended by some young girl who continued to give it gas after ramming us. I saw her coming and told my girlfriend to brake check her now and she did, and she made no effort to stop or go into the other lane - which was wide open. Commerce insurance decided that it would be a better idea not to pay us because she did not file an accident report. Legally she has 15 days, and because there's a police report at that point there was nothing more that they needed. A friend put me in touch with his lawyer friend and he wrote them a letter on legal letterhead - and didn't charge me a thing. Pretty quickly after, I got a call from Commerce and they offered me a loaner and an amount on my vehicle - which was a bit less than the actual book value, but that was expected but still about what I paid for the car a month prior. I said look, this car was the cleanest '01 Deville I would ever find and they increased that offer by another $1600. We ended up with an '05 that was a little more expensive, but that  '01 really looked brand spanking new.

[huZZah]

I have/had a friend that is/was a lawyer. Works very hard for his clients. I joked with him a lot that I can’t be seen with him cause he’s a lawyer. But he has done a lot of good in my eyes for peoples families, working hard to keep kids out of foster care and with parents, etc. coaches little league. His office pays for 2 teams of kids that parents can’t afford it. That kinda stuff. 
 

Then it all came out a couple years ago that he was cheating on his wife, had a whole separate family, a drug problem, and 2 illegitimate children with college girls that had worked in his office and he still kept them as mistresses. And none of these people knew about any of the others. 
 

So he is/was a very ethical lawyer. But turned out to be a total scum bag to his family.  Families?
 

But he never overcharged his clients and worked long and hard for THEIR families ?. Never stole money. 
 

He still practices family law, and he still works very hard for those other peoples kids. 
 

So there’s that...

[OCdockskipper]

3 hours ago, huZZah said:

I have/had a friend that is/was a lawyer...is/was a very ethical lawyer. But turned out to be a total scum bag to his family.  Families?
 

So there’s that...

 

It sounds like the guilt from his personal life affected his professional life.  He would then rationalize that he really was a good person, those personal life issues were just an aberration.  

 

 

[Columbia Craw]

Can you say, good night Irene?

[N Florida Mike]

We had a family “friend” that we knew all his life .  He became a lawyer. I hired him to do my mom’s trust. I paid him in advance only because he and his parents were so close to our family. Time went by, and he did nothing. After several months I said something about when was he going to do it ? Nothing but excuses from him. I tried several more times , and only excuses. I finally got fed up after about a YEAR, and fired him.  Then he said how hurt and offended he was that I did that .Never gave me my money back either. My wife wanted me to file a bar complaint against him, and looking back I should have, but I didnt want to offend his parents and my mom, who begged me not to. I cant imagine how bad he treats his regular clients if he treats his friends like this...

I hired a guy I didnt know at a friends recommendation and it only took a week or two. And it was cheaper .

[roadwarrior]

2 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

Can you say, good night Irene?

 

Yes I can.

 

Goodnight Irene.