Can an attorney lie to a doctor and say the settlement amount on a PI case is much lower than it is to get more $$ ?

Question

I work for a medical group that sees patients on the basis of a medical lien that they sign after they've had an injury.  The patients are treated, get the pain management or surgery they need and then when the case settles, the physicians are to be paid first as part of the lien.  However I've been noticing the doctors are often forced to reduce the amount of $$ they are due when the attorney claims they are only going to be receiving X.  Is it possible for the attorney's to lie about this amount just to get the lion's share of the settlement and is this amount recorded anywhere so one could determine which attorney's may be more honest than others when presenting the medical group with such negotiations?

William John Light · Answer

That would be fraud, which is both a civil wrong, potentially a crime, and potentially a basis for discipline from the State Bar.  You can always ask to see the Settlement Agreement and Release and the disbursement sheet to see the reductions being accepted by the other medical providers as a condition of your agreement to a reduction.

Theodore Allan Greene · Answer

Most attorneys would never lie. Our clients know the amount of the settlement and they ultimately owe the medical bills too so you can easily find out if an attorney is being deceitful. I have never heard of an attorney doing that but you make it sound like it's happening all the time. What most likely is happening is that the medical bills far exceed the amount of insurance coverage available. As attorneys the more auto insurance money the better for us - but if - for example -there is only a $15,000 policy and the defendant doesn't have any assets to speak of and let's say the medical bills total $10,000.. well the typical scenario is that the attorney takes 1/3 ($5,000) leaving $10,000 - the current regulations say that the medical providers cannot get anymore than 50% of this remaining balance. So ALL of the $10,000 still owed to medical providers has to be divided up prorata out of the $5,000. Now the medical providers can either accept this and be paid in full or they potentially can sue the patient for the difference. When a lien is involved it doesn't change the above but it can give more rights to sue where sometime they HAVE to agree to be paid in full. It's a very complex and ever changing area of the law but let me tell you.. in my many years of doing this I have NEVER  had a medical provider not agree to the pro-rata split. You have to remember that if you decide to sue then the patient can file bankruptcy and it would go away anyway... so I think your premise on what is happening is misplaced. Hopefully that helps you understand it a little better.

Q: Can an attorney lie to a doctor and say the settlement amount on a PI case is much lower than it is to get more $$ ?