re: Question about a settlement check

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Pretty minor — just soreness/stiff neck. I only went to the chiropractor for a couple mos.

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That's impressive (or maddening) that you got that much for those minor injuries.

Everyone here will give you shite for going to a lawyer but I'm here to tell you that I understand.

I was rear ended years ago by a kid speeding and texting while driving. He was insured with Progressive. I was fine at first but then later that morning I developed a bad headache and dizziness. It persisted for an hour so I left work to go to the ER to get checked out. They diagnosed me with "whiplash" and said it would get better with time. Told me to take Advil.

Fast forward to a week later and then my shoulder started hurting bad. I was getting extremely sharp, almost paralyzing pain that kept shooting up from my shoulder through my neck. Went get some MRI's and it turned out I had a very, very minor bulging disc in my neck that was causing the pain. No surgery was needed and it ended up mostly going away in time.

I started having problems when I asked Progressive to pay my medical bills, though. They outright refused to pay ANY of my medical bills until the entire claim was settled. I wasn't going to settle my claim and close it out until I knew how serious my injuries were. I was afraid of having years of medical care on my neck and shoulder and then being on the hook for those bills.

Long story short, when they refused to work with me on my medical bills, I got a lawyer. I felt dirty. I felt ashamed. I felt embarrassed. I felt like white trash. But I also felt like I was being forced to obtain an attorney. It took a while but I ended up settling out of court about a year later. They ended up paying out policy limits (a whopping $15,000) and after fees and other expenses, I ended up with about $9,000. Paid off my car with it.


Moral of the story: Progressive could've paid my bills, which amounted to about $4,000 total but they chose to be stubborn assholes and ended up paying $15,000.

THAT is the problem with insurance in Louisiana. Lawyers aren't completely to blame here. They're just making a living off of the incompetence of insurance companies. I don't blame them one fricking bit, either.

They can't settle on your behalf without your authority. Do you recall giving your attorney a minimum amount that he could settle on your behalf? This can't be your first finding out about settlement. Someone had to have contacted you recently and told you the range of what they were going to settle, and got your ok?

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I cannot address LA as I am only admitted in DC, VA, and MD. I just found it odd when I read the OP because I had the feeling that the lawyer had never spoken with the OP about the value of his case and now OP hears his case is settled. That’s strange to me.

As to escrow accounts, that’s one area that no lawyer should mess with. Here if an escrow account doesn’t balance or a check bounced, the lawyer can kiss his license good bye. It’s the death penalty.

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My experience with shops like these when it is a "Burger King Bumpup" is they get the "final offer" from the adjuster then have them send a draft and settlement documents then bring the client in and go over the offer and numbers. Usually, no dicussion of value until there is an offer on the table.

The trust account will kill you dead ANYWHERE in the US if you bounce a check, the bank is required to report it. However, a firm his size probably has several hundred K in float at any given time. My last firm that I ran the litigation division never had less than 4-5 million floating in escrow but it was a very large 4 state firm. I have known firms that would cut checks on the float since it was never going to bounce.

I've just recently noticed your posting, and I must say, you seem to be one trashy mother fricker

touche

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Gotcha, well that sounds like the total settlement was for $12,000.00, which sounds about right from what you said about your injuries. You won't get all of that. You'll get that, minus his fees, minus all the expenses. You'll probably net around $7K.

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Correct. . Make sure he doesn't nickel and dime you for things like file set up costs etc. That's B.S.

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A soar neck? Are you serious?

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If I ever get into a wreck and my neck soars, I'm most definitely getting a lawyer.

I wish I had more upvotes to give.

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If they told you 12K, that’s your cut generally speaking

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Ok so basically the above quote is 100% inaccurate. Got it.