Q: Please recommend next steps for Personal Injury case where Atty withdraws and files lien against Settlement?
I have a Personal Injury Case that has gone on f/ 2 1/2 yrs. It went to Mediation, at which my former Atty and I disagree over Doctors fees from Doctors he referred me to that are outrageously inflated. With no resolve reached at the Mediation. A week later they Respondents upped their offer 1k. Although not happy because my former Atty., kept saying case was worth 8X the final offer, I agreed to the offer but not my former Attys split which gave me less than 20% of the settlement. His reponse was to file Petitions to withdraw as counsel, AND to place a Lien on the settlement.
A:
First, if the case is in court as you have seen he has to have permission of the Court. You may object. Second, does the lien include the physician amounts? The attorney can ask for a lien but a court may limit it to a) a percentage under the contract of what he got them to provide, or the worth of the hours he has spent , b) the costs he has spent.
You might use your objection to try to get the attorney to compromise. But you need to file the objection within the time required by the court, attach a certificate stating you gave him copies of your objection etc.
You would need to check with other attorneys so you can tell the court you are looking, but at this point they may not want to get involved.
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