Once the 2 sides have settled their differences, or once the plaintiff/claimant wins in court, the insurance company sends a check to the claimant and the claimant’s lawyer.
What happens to that check?
Usually, the lawyer and client have agreed ahead of time on the percent of the money in that check that will become the Injury Lawyer’s fee in Mississauga. Once that fee has been taken-out, the bulk of the settlement money gets sent to the client.
There may be 3rd parties that have a lien on some of the money in that settlement check. They would be people like the head of the client’s health insurance agency and the client’s medical provider. Once the client agrees to disbursement of money to those with a lien, the money gets taken from the settlement check. Then the remaining funds are sent to the lawyer’s client.
What type of lien must receive special attention from the client’s attorney?
If the injured driver or any injured passenger happens to be on Medicare, then there may be an additional lien on the recovered funds. Medicare covers 80% of the medical expenses for any Medicare recipient. That includes the expenses that have resulted from accident-caused injuries.
Ideally, an experienced personal injury lawyer recognizes the benefits of undertaking the right actions at an early point in the client’s case. That means finding out how much of the settlement check needs to go to Medicare. The client enjoys 2 benefits, when the client’s lawyer has undertaken the necessary inquiry as soon as possible, following the initiation of a lawsuit.
What 2 benefits do clients enjoy, when their lawyers undertake such early actions?
When a lawyer knows ahead of time what amount of the settlement check must be used to cover Medicare’s lien, then the client does not have to wait long for delivery of the promised payment. In fact, the lawyer’s actions can affect the size of that particular payment.
If a lawyer’s pursuit of information about Medicare’s projected lien on the anticipated check indicates that the same lien will be quite large, then the informed lawyer knows that he or she should fight for a sizeable settlement. The larger the settlement, the greater the amount of money remaining, after the disappearance of Medicare’s proceeds.
Those facts should be noted by any driver that devotes many hours to transporting one or more senior citizen. If one of them gets injured in an automobile accident, any consulted personal injury lawyer should be asked about his or her familiarity with coverage of Medicare-recipients, following an on-road incident.
A potential client may have good reason for asking that question. Clients deserve to be provided with precise answers, regarding a consulted attorney’s experience.
