Tennessee Injury Law Center

April 9, 2010

Case Expenses in Personal Injury Litigation

I was hurt in a car accident. I talked to a lawyer and he sent me a proposed contingency fee agreement. The agreement says that I have to pay the expenses he incurs in prosecuting my case and that interest accrues on the expense money. Is this normal?

It is normal for a lawyer handling a contingency fee case to ask the client to re-pay the lawyer for the money spent on case expenses out of any settlement achieved in the case. It is not normal, however, for lawyers to charge interest on the expense money they advance for case expenses, although it seems like more and more lawyers are charging interest.

The lawyers who charge interest may have a contract with a private company that charges them interest, and then they pass the interest that they pay while the case is pending onto you as their client. The interest rate may be very high – much higher than the “prime rate.” The lawyer does not profit from this, but simply passes the cost of the interest on to you.

April 4, 2010

Health Insurance: Do I Need To Repay My Insurance Company?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

I just settled my personal injury case and my lawyer told me that I have to re-pay my health insurance company the amount they paid for my medical bills from the accident. That doesn’t seem fair. Is my lawyer right?

Your lawyer is probably right. Most health insurance policies have what are known as subrogation or reimbursement clauses. These clauses mean that if you get hurt and collect medical bills paid by your insurance company from the person who hurt you your insurance company gets paid back.

If your insurance through a government-sponsored program like Tenncare or Medicare you also have a responsibility to re-pay the government out of any settlement you receive.

April 2, 2010

Physical Therapy: Should I Stop Going?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

I got hurt in an accident and my doctor said I should go to physical therapy. The therapist is 20 miles away and it is very inconvenient to go to therapy. Plus, it doesn’t seem to do any good. Will it hurt my case if I just stop going?

First, let me suggest you set the thoughts about your legal case aside for a moment. Your doctor prescribed physical therapy because he or she thought it would help you. It might not. But it might. And the progress you see might be small. But you still need to go to physical therapy because you want to do what you can to reach a full recovery.

Going to physical therapy may not help your case, but not going as the doctor asked you to do could hurt your case. Insurance adjusters and jurors may conclude that you may not have been having the problems you say you were having (or are having) if you failed to follow your doctor’s advice. If you have to go before a jury in your case the jury will be told that it is your responsibility to minimize your damages.