Q: Negotiating wrongful death settlement in Illinois led to pressured agreement; attorney left shortly after. What are my options?

A: If you haven’t signed any documents, you can definitely seek a second opinion to evaluate the facts and the propriety of the proposed settlement. You should contact the owner or Managing Partner of the law firm that represented you to find out the status of your case, why your lawyer left, and who is responsible for your case now. Under the circumstances, you can definitely reach out to another law firm and ask their lawyers to advise you on how to proceed.

A: If you haven't signed any documents, your case is NOT settled. NO Insurance company is going to order a check until they have your executed release. If you did not file a lawsuit, the statute of limitations is NOT tolled.

Before an attorney conveys an offer on the case, the attorney should explain exactly what the insurance company's rationale is in making the offer. Moreover, the attorney should be prepared to tell you whether he recommends that you accept the settlement. If the attorney recommends the settlement, he should be prepared to explain why he recommends that you accept the settlement. If the attorney can't explain why you should accept the offer, why would you accept it? As indicated above, until you sign a release, NOTHING is settled, for ANY amount.

I know nothing about your case and have no opinion as to how much it is worth. That said, if you hire another attorney, what is his incentive to devote the considerable time necessary to read through the documents and come to his own conclusion about case value unless you sign an hourly contract? If the 2nd attorney charges you $400 per hour and spends 50 hours reviewing the file, you would owe that attorney $20,000 even if the 2nd attorney's opinion is that the case is only worth $250,000. Are you willing and able to do that? Moreover, very few attorneys are willing to work on an hourly basis unless you fund a retainer BEFORE the work is performed.

There are many potential scenarios for your 1st attorney's compensation but you probably hired that attorney on a contingency fee basis of 1/3 or 40%, so you are already obligated to pay between $83,000 and $100,000 to that attorney.