Dealing with personal injury lawyer - nightmare

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Yanny

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I got into a non-at-fault accident last year, a taxi turned left at an intersection while I'm going straight through and cut me off. I fractured both of my wrists because of this. I posted my story here and someone on this forum approached me as a personal injury lawyer. It was contingency based (7:3) I only pay if he wins. Now after a year has gone past, the settlement reached the end, we are receiving over 100k in settlement. This is where I felt they are trying to trick you, last week he proposed I would be getting 35k out of the 100k cuz there were other charges relating to my case, asked if it sounded good. I trusted him so I didn't think too much, said it's alright. He asked me to give permission for the payment to send to the lawyers office, I said OK.

A few days later I re-think, how could it be so little... they are literally taking 75% out of my claim. At that point I felt extremely preyed on. This is also when things got sketchy. I sent him two emails 1) funds distribution record 2) my confusion over my allocation, but he never responded this time. A few more days gone by, that's enough for anyone who cares to respond. I decided to call him to see what was up and confirm the amount I'd be getting. He was reluctant to tell me this time, he said part of the reduction was legal fee (I thought OK, that's 30%), where's the rest 70%, I'm only getting 35%! He then went on how much invoices I had outstanding this includes photocopy, paperwork, admin, stuff that he needs to get done to settle this claim. The final amount I am getting could go up or down when he has all the invoices. Wow I felt completely insulted. I was never told there were any outstanding balance that weren't paid off. In fact my accident benefit claim covered all of my medical balance with a few grands to spare. It's impossible to tell what else is there for him to deduct...

Anyone has experience?:)
 
Sounds odd based on what you have presented. When I used a personal injury firm (Thomson Rogers) for my accident, they told me upfront their fee would be 25% of settlement. That's exactly what it was upon closing.In my opinion it is the upfront fee that should take into account all admin costs. Everything should have been clearly spelled out in documents you both signed, of which you have a copy of that contract. Anything else is unprofessional.
 
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I was never offered or given copy of the contract...:mad:

I know other great lawyers through my family, regret not using them now.
 
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You didn't sign a contract?

Why not? You sign for $40 worth of gas using a credit card....how could you not know you need a contract?

Honesty, this sucks but you are responsible for your actions. You are an adult, you have to know that every transaction requires validity.
 
Of course I did, I was never given a copy of it. No lawyer would defend without a contract.
 
If this is an actual lawyer then call the Law Society AND your relative legal eagles...a verbal contract is just as binding....and he won't like being reported.

know that every transaction requires validity.
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It IS a valid contractual obligation.
 
If there was never anything in writing, the lawyer never had any authority to act on your behalf.
If you agreed to a 70-30 split then the lawyer is entitled to 70% of the settlement.
However, it sounds very much as if this lawyer is pulling a fast one.
He took the case on a contingency basis meaning that all fees and costs come out of his end, not yours.
Call the law society and find out what your rights are.
Also, go to the society's web site and see if he is even licenced to practice law in Ontario.
 
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Yanny said:
I was never offered or given copy of the contract...:mad:

I know other great lawyers through my family, regret not using them now.
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Your situation sucks. You might want to use one of those lawyers through your family now to see what can be done.
 
Yanny said:
Of course I did, I was never given a copy of it. No lawyer would defend without a contract.
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Then ask to see what you signed or get a copy of it.

Verbal is a slippery slope without any proof. If someone else verbally witnessed it then you may have a chance. Otherwise you could just be making **** up and saying "but they said"....

I have a hard time believing they didn't get you a copy, as it protects them too. I do believe that they may also be trying to screw you, legally of course
 
One option is to "assess" the account. The number is 416 327 5121. There is a 30-day period in which to file the assessment.
 
Thanks I searched on the law society of upper canada, the lawyer is registered. I just sent him an email for the copy of contract.

I have discovered another terrible thing.... my accident benefit claim (settlement around 30k), 22k of which my lawyer said was my outstanding balance towards medical that i need to pay. This includes physio and chiro that I was treated with. Because of the current situation, I wanted to see if this is indeed true, 5 mins ago I made the call to my physio and chiro to confirm if I owe them anything. Shockingly my treatments were approved by my insurance company, they were paid.
 
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Yanny said:
I got into a non-at-fault accident last year, a taxi turned left at an intersection while I'm going straight through and cut me off. I fractured both of my wrists because of this. I posted my story here and someone on this forum approached me as a personal injury lawyer. It was contingency based (7:3) I only pay if he wins. Now after a year has gone past, the settlement reached the end, we are receiving over 100k in settlement. This is where I felt they are trying to trick you, last week he proposed I would be getting 35k out of the 100k cuz there were other charges relating to my case, asked if it sounded good. I trusted him so I didn't think too much, said it's alright. He asked me to give permission for the payment to send to the lawyers office, I said OK.
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For any injury award under $121,799, there is now a mandatory $36,540 deductible applied to the payout. That deductible used to be $30,000 before Aug 1 2015. The deductible is meant to discourage frivolous claims.

Depending on which deductible applies to you, your lawyer takes his 30% off the total amount of award, leaving you $70,000. The deductible, whether $30,000 or $36,540, is then applied to the remaining $70,000 leaving you the rest.

EDIT - the numbers changed again on Jan 1 2016 for claims originating on or after that date - deductible for those claims is $36,905 for claims up to $123,017.
 
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griff2 said:
For any injury award under $121,799, there is now a mandatory $36,540 deductible applied to the payout. That deductible used to be $30,000 before Aug 1 2015. The deductible is meant to discourage frivolous claims.

Depending on which deductible applies to you, your lawyer takes his 30% off the total amount of award, leaving you $70,000. The deductible, whether $30,000 or $36,540, is then applied to the remaining $70,000 leaving you the rest.
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That sounds like a legit scam. They are implementing a deductible to reduce your rightful benefit. How does that make sense, you are the one that suffered.
You already paid a deductible but this is in a hidden area most will never know about until they need it.
And we wonder why people scam.
 
-D- said:
That sounds like a legit scam. They are implementing a deductible to reduce your rightful benefit. How does that make sense, you are the one that suffered.
You already paid a deductible but this is in a hidden area most will never know about until they need it.
And we wonder why people scam.
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It is not imposed by the insurance companies. This is set by government legislation defining the standard automobile insurance package. Has been for years.
 
griff2 said:
It is not imposed by the insurance companies. This is set by government legislation defining the standard automobile insurance package. Has been for years.
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Anyone that's never file a personal injury claim is always thrown by this part of the legislation. That's why you always want to try to push for a settlement over that lower limit if you can.
 
JoeyB said:
Anyone that's never file a personal injury claim is always thrown by this part of the legislation. That's why you always want to try to push for a settlement over that lower limit if you can.
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ask for at least $300k for everything and settle for $150k which puts you over the deductible...got it
 
Sounds like a skeevy lawyer to me. Colour me unsurprised, they're not hard to find.

In the end unless you signed a contract detailing the terms, it's your word against theirs at this point, and, well....do you want to take a lawyer to court?
 
Gnu said:
You're getting $35k, what's the issue? Don't be greedy.
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Seriously?

There's a difference between being greedy and getting what you were damn well supposed to get, particularly when the funds were a result of a major accident that resulted in fairly serious physical injury, and without doubt, cost the OP a lot of pain and lost income.

Sheesh.
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