Copyright 2003 by Nippies.com All rights reserved
A Personal Injury Lawyer Horror Story
Update - FALL 2003:
The case has been settled for nearly 8 times what the original personal injury law firm's claims manager tried to force the client to take. The client's wife found a new lawyer, a woman, who was appalled at the negligence and ineptitude of the former attorney and settled the matter smoothly and professionally in a short time. The new attorney, in fact, stated that, had the case been handled professionally and competently in the first place, the case would have been worth much more. Still, the client and his wife are happy to have this horrific chapter of their life closed and are very grateful to the new personal injury attorney for helping them when no one else would.
The moral of this story? NEVER GIVE UP in your fight to get compensated fairly for your injury.
But more importantly: think twice, and then three times, about picking your personal injury lawyer from the large yellow pages ads in the phone book or from a snazzy television commercial. The type of law firms who advertise heavily often take every case they can get, and never plan on litigating most of them. The cases are handled by claims managers and other non-attorney personnel.
It is VITAL that your personal injury lawyer plans on taking your case to court to receive fair compensation. If a personal injury law firm has a reputation for settling fast, cheap and out-of-court (this type of firm is called a personal injury clearinghouse), the lawyers from the firm will, most likely, try to force or intimidate their client into taking what is offered by the insurance company.
Insurance companies usually have lists of law firms who have a reputation for settling their clients' personal injury claims fast and CHEAP. These insurance companies will offer very little in settlement money to the clients of these firms.
The following is a true story. Names of people and places have, for the most part, been omitted.
The entertainer is treated at a hospital of the facility's choice where they claim they have an "account" (the entertainer and his wife did NOT want him taken to this particular facility, but he was given no choice) but, unknown to the performer, no head xray is taken. Only a neck x-ray was taken. The whole incident is caught on tape - a tape promised to the performer as part of his fee. Of course the tape is never delivered and the facility's manager goes on record (in newspaper accounts), a few days later, as stating the performer is "fine" when, in fact, they never bothered to call him and find out how he really was... the damage control had begun by the facility's representatives to fend off a viable personal injury lawsuit...
What should have been an open-and-shut case - if there ever was one - for a head injury victim seeking to be compensated for his injuries by a government facility (run by a powerful politician, who hired the victim to perform at the facility, made the promises of payment which were never delivered, and yet was never served in the complaint) is now in danger of being dismissed by a judge nearly 32 months after the accident occured. This judge, whose campaign expenditures raised eyebrows all over the county when he spent a record-breaking 3 times more than his annual salary on his campaign, is a close political ally of the politician. This judge got into office during a time when foes of the government facility were filing lawsuits to stop the facility from being built. This judge, after winning the election, ruled in favor of the facility in each lawsuit (that we could find records of) which came before him - and there were several. As a matter of fact, this judge now has a strong reputation for ruling in favor of the affluent, and doling out heavy sentences to the underprivileged.
This case is, unfortunately, representative of many cases which are botched (either purposely or accidently) by a personal injury lawyer - or any lawyer - in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is ranked 51st by HALT.org, an organization dedicated to legal reform. (Legal reform refers to the manner in which lawyers are disciplined for their misconduct.) The low ranking is for a good reason: Pennsylvania is extremely secretive and reluctant in the process of disciplining lawyers who violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, which dictates the standards of the client-attorney relationship, among other things, in Pennsylvania. Lawyers who are dishonest, incompetent, deceitful, commit fraud, and are negligent are, idealistically, supposed to be disciplined, according to the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct. Unfortunately, they rarely are.
The only agency which can discipline a lawyer in Pennsylvania is the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, up to 87% of all complaints against attorneys which are reported to the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania are dismissed as "frivolous". Of the remaining cases, only a scant few result in public discipline and/or the lawyer actually being disbarred. However, even if a lawyer is named as being disciplined, the extent of his offenses are not publicly matched with his name.
Even writing to the Attorney General of Pennsylvania will result in no action against a lawyer who violates the Rules of Professional conduct. The Attorney General has no control over the conduct of lawyers.
One problem with the system in Pennsylvania is clearly that lawyers are largely self-governing. It is also lawyers, for the most part, who are in the legislative branch of the Pennsylvania government and who make the rules about how lawyers are to be disciplined. And the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is, of course, comprised of lawyers. Lawyers clearly take care of their own.
A good place to start with legal reform is with campaign reform.
Go to FollowTheMoney.Org to see how much money is contributed by lawyers and lawyers' lobbyist groups to politicians running for office, and to candidates for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. A LOT! (Lawyers also contribute heavily to county judges compaigns). How can a lawmaker or judge be subjective when they've been the recipient of a large campaign contribution from a particular attorney, law firm, or lawyer's group such as the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association? Judicial reform is also much needed in Pennsylvania.
The letter below is written as the client mentioned in this specific case would write it in seeking a new attorney for his case which, in fact, he has been forced to do...he only has until July 14th, 2003. The law firm clearly had no intention of ever taking the course to court but, rather, wanted to force the client into a fast and cheap settlement. When the client refused because of numerous reasons (he was still undergoing treatment, he'd never spoken to or had a meeting with a real attorney from the firm, he wanted answers to relevant questions, such as had the facility even been served with 6 months as prescribed by Pennsylvania law for a government facility, etc.), the firm began to play hardball with him. Their lawyers wrote letters which "confirmed" conversations which had never taken place (that he wanted $200,000.00 to settle instead of the real amount- $20,000.00), they attempted to mitigate his injuries and even to conceal or invalidate evidence of the extent of his injuries, they discredited their client to an attorney who was interested in taking over the case (the attorney told the client the other law firm had been "diplomatic"), to the attending neurologist (who was, from all indications, told by the law firm that the client was thinking of suing him (the neurologist) for medical malpractice, resulting in the neurologist's attempt to remove all records of symptoms reported to him which would indicate post concussion syndrome).
The client himself had to pursue the truth from the neurologist through a series of letters to get him to correct his "mistakes" in a Narrative Summary ordered by the bad lawyer. The neurologist even tried to deny that he'd cashed a check issued to him three months after he initially saw the patient in which, on the memo, the patient had written his symptoms of headaches, dizziness, etc. Eventually, though a lot of hard work and presentation of evidence, the client was able to compel the neurologist to admit the truth.
There is so much more - dozens of arrogant and brazen steps taken by the firm to totally discredit the client and destroy the value of the case....too, too many to document in a summary.
Dear Attorney __________,
On November __, 200_, I slipped and fell at the ____________ (a county owned government sports facility) where I was
performing during a special anniversary celebration. Although it took me a short while to recover enough to get up, I managed and began to sing, finished the song, and walked off the performance area holding my head. All this was being taped by a cameraman for possible telecast at a later time. The copy of the tape was part of my fee, which did not include currency but, rather, publicity, free tickets, etc.
Paramedics met me at the edge of the performance area and took me downstairs, where the politician who had hired me to perform was waiting. He didn't speak to me but asked the paramedics "where is the injury located?" and then ran off. I suffered profuse bleeding from a head wound, and was shaky, dizzy, seeing flashing lights and had other symptoms. I was told I was being taken to __________ Hospital by the paramedics, even though both my wife, who came down from the audience area a few minutes after I left the performance area, and I protested my being treated at this particular Emercency Room. (I'd gone to this particular emergency room a few years earlier in the middle of the night when I'd begun bleeding profusely a few days after sinus surgery. My surgeon was on vacation and the covering surgeon refused to come in to treat me. After 5 hours of having blood drip into a basin, I was told to travel across town to another facility so the covering surgeon could see me at 7 a.m.. By this time I'd lost so much blood that I spend a week in the hospital). The paramedics insisted I go to that hospital as the facility had, they said, “an account there”. I obliged because I assumed this account meant the facility would pay for treatment.
I was treated at the ER at _________ Hospital. No head xrays were taken, I found out over a year and a half later when I sent for my records, but an xray of the neck was taken. My injury was primarily to the head.
I had been hired to perform at the facility by ___________ (a well-known politician), who had promised, as I previously mentioned, a tape of the performance, (which I have never received), tickets for my family, and “great publicity”. The publicity was not so great. I was compared to a comedy act in an article in the _____________ newspaper, which is the largest daily in our entire region. I am not a comedy act.
My wife was not allowed to accompany me to the hospital, even though she requested to go with me. She'd left our young daughter in the care of relatives who were still seated in the audience area so that she could go with me. She was instructed by the paramedics to return to her seat, and she would be contacted when I returned.
When I returned to the facility, I was taken to a room where my wife and little girl were waiting with an female employee of the facility. We both indicated that we wanted to leave immediately to go home, but the female employee and the employee who accompanied me to the waiting room both insisted that I go up to the box where the politician wanted to see me. I declined and protested, as did my wife, but the two facility employees insisted. The said that the politician really wanted me to go up and meet with him. They clearly weren't going to take no for an answer, so, finally, I gave in and accompanied one of the facility's personnel to the box. My wife and young child followed. My wife was very upset at my pale and disheveled appearance, and, she later told me, at the way the personnel insisted I visit the politician.
In the box where the politician (who'd hired me) was waiting were several other people. The politician welcomed me, introduced me to his brother, who happened to be a lawyer, and insisted that a photo be taken of us together. I thought this odd, as the politician hadn't even bothered to greet me when I arrived earlier at the facility to perform and I hadn't been scheduled to visit his box afterward. Again, I resisted as I had blood all over my shirt, was pale, had a large bandage covering my stitches, and didn't feel up to having my photo taken. He insisted I smile, smile, smile- and pose. I did as I was told. After this he lost interest in me suddenly and we got out of there. On the way home my wife told me she bet I never got the picture and she was right...I never did. As a matter of fact, I never heard from the politician again.
During the week after the fall, I had vison problems, dizziness and headaches, all of which necessitated a visit to my family physician. Dr __________ talked to me about symptoms (vision problems, dizziness, blood in my ear) and diagnosed a concussion. (I later found out my physician had been at the event and had witnessed my fall, but he never told me this). I also visited ____________ (eye specialists) and was diagnosed with vitreous degeneration and detachment. Oddly, during this week, the manager of the facility where I'd fallen went on record in the newspapers saying I was "fine", when, in fact, no one from the facility had inquired as to my state of well-being at all. This was when I called a law firm and made inquiries, but decided not to persue anything unless I had future problems.
I visited a neurologist in January of 2001 because of continuing headaches, dizziness and other symptoms. The neurologist diagnosed a concussion and sent me for an MRI, which he later said was normal. He also wrote a diagnosis code for “post concussion type syndrome”, which I also later found out. (17 months later, after being contacted by my lawyer to write a Narrative Summary, the neurologist left these diagnoses out of his report and even went on record as stating "if he even had a concussion".)
Around the time I made the appointment with the neurologist, I hired the personal injury law firm from Philadelphia to recoup my health insurance and out of pocket expenses from the facility, as all the bills from the treatments were coming to me and the facility wasn’t covering anything, including the ER treatment. I chose the Philadelphia personal injury firm purposely because, considering my business, I was embarassed to be involved in any type of legal action through a local attorney, and my wife was very embarassed as well, and was clear she didn’t want involved legally with her name on the lawsuit.
I must point out here that I signed what was described by the personal injury firm's representative as a "standard contingency fee agreement" for 1/3 plus expenses and was assured, over and over, that I would not be responsible for any payment of sny sort unless I won the case and the Philadelphia personal injury law firm got me what I considered a fair compensation. I signed alone, and NOT my wife, who didn’t want to be involved in the lawsuit and, later, after one conversation with a claims manager from the Philadelphia personal injury firm, wanted nothing to do with the firm. This wish of my wife's to have nothing to do with all this and with the firm was made clear to the law firm by me in both phone conversations and written correspondence on several occasions.
I made another trip to the neurologist in February for continuing headaches and other neurological symptoms.
Several months passed. As instructed by the Philadelphia personal injury law firm's pre-litigation specialist, I sent all the medical bills to them, as I was instructed, for them to keep track of, and I kept copies for myself. No lawyer was involved at any time, not even with initials on correspondence, just a pre-litigation speciaist. I assumed, and was told, I would be meeting with a lawyer soon.
In July 2001, six months after hiring the firm and eight months after the injury, I had to go out-of-state to fulfill a contract I’d entered into shortly before the injury. My wife answered the phone when the Philadelphia personal injury law firm's claims manager called. The law firm now had transferred the case to a claims manager who told my wife that I was being offered $1700.00 as a settlement. My wife explained to the Philadelphia personal injury law firm's claims manager that I not only still had headaches, but other alarming neurological symptoms, as well, since the fall. She explained to the claims manager that I'd been refusing to return to the neurologist for these symptoms and was in denial about them. These symptoms included what she and my children called “rages”, which my family was sure were caused by the fall, as I didn’t have them prior to the fall. My family and I had not been getting along becaues of my short temper and had not only been urging me to return to the neurologist, but had even attempted to tape my rages as proof, to me, of how inappropriate and harmful my behavior was. I didn’t think my moods were related to the fall and instead blamed my family for the anger. My wife told the claims manager all of this, told her that she really thought a lawyer should call me and urge me to return to the neurologist, that perhaps I’d listen to a lawyer from the firm, who advertises head injury as one of their specialties. My wife explained that she was afraid to call the neurologist herself, as ever time she requested I return to him for the emotional rages I’d get even more angry and take it out on her and the children.
Throughout the conversaton, the claims manager kept saying to my wife, “can you prove it?”, meaning could she prove the rages were related to the head injury if I wasn't going for treatment. My wife, who once worked in the mental health field, explained to the claims manager that I was in denial about my emotional outbursts, as are many patients with emotional symptoms. The claims manager kept repeating "can you prove it?", greatly frustrating my wife. My wife was confused and upset at the claims managers obvious attempt to discount my injuries and asked that a real lawyer call her so she could discuss my symtoms. The claims manager discounted other concerns my wife had, such as a definite decline in local bookings as well. The claims manager promised to have a lawyer call, the managing lawyer, that afternoon. But no call came that day, as promised. My wife called near the close of business hours and left a message for the managing attorney of the Philadelphia personal injury law firm to call her back, and explained to the person taking the message that she'd been promised a call by the claims manager. My wife never got a call from any lawyer from the personal injury law firm on that day or during the next several weeks I was away, even though she called several times and left messages.
That same day, my wife called me and told me about the $1700 offer, but not about her conversaton about the rages because she knew I would be angry that my inappropriate behavior had been discussed behind my back. There were many arguments whenever I was home over insignificant things, and I would be angry at the whole family for days over small issues, which was not the normal way our family was.
For my part, I was shocked at the small amount of money offered in the settlement, especially considering I was still having headaches and that the medical expenses (tests and such) amounted to about the same amount of money as was being offered. I called the firm and spoke with the claims manager and told her I wanted a meeting with a lawyer to see what was going on, what work the firm's lawyers had done on my case, etc., tht I would not consider a settlement of any type - and especially not one that small ($1700.00)- until I was granted a meeting and some questions were answered about my case. She promised to have a lawyer call. No lawyer called and I called again several more times during the next few weeks, but no calls were returned by a lawyer from the Philadelphia personal injury law firm.
What did happen was that letters started coming from the claims manager. She never mentioned the requests from both my wife and myself that a lawyer call , but instead, the letters repeatedly referred to the settlement offer - without mention of the amount - which I’d already told her I wouldn’t consider until I first met with a lawyer and reviewed my case.
I returned home from my out-of-state bookings which took up all of July and August. During this time, I only had to perform about 20 minutes per day as part of a show and spent a great deal of time alone in my room.
I went to see the neurologist in September 2001 again for my headaches and symptoms. He didn’t suggest any further testing, since the headaches were painful but manageable. At no time during this visit or during the previous visit did the doctor advise me that my head injury could be affecting my behavior, even though we later discovered that the post concussion syndrome he'd written down in diagnosis code would have caused me to exhibit such emotional symptoms.
After the month spent at home (Sept. 2001)I was away for much of the fall and throughout December 2001, but during the brief periods when I was home, there were always angry outbursts on my part over the slightest thing. This upset family very much and, especially my teenaged son. He had previously been a student with outstanding achievements, but, due to the stress at home due to my behavior, begun to have problems both socially (exhibiting verbal agression which he'd never before exhibited) and academically. My son was twice voted president of his class by outstanding majority at school, liked and was well-liked by everyone, but now had become more isolated and reluctant to respect some of the school's authority figures. He eventually got into serious trouble and tried to drop out to be home schooled in his senior year. We had to send him for counseling to get him to return to school after he spend a week at home in the fall of 2002.
In December 2001, my wife, completely frazzled by what was going on at home, waited until I left to work in _______ and wrote a letter (so there wouldn’t be a long distance phone record for me to see when I returned home) to the neurologist expressing concern over my behavior and asking for help before I went into another one of my rages, which she was sure was going to happen when I came back home. A few days after mailing the letter, while I was still away, the neurologist called my wife at home and she told him of her concerns over my rages. She also told him about my dizziness and other symptoms that had occured immediately after the fall and how the rages had started around then and continued on. He listened and recommended a more specialized CAT scan when I returned home in late December or January. She told him she didn’t think I’d listen to her, but she’d try to talk me into it.
The letters from the claims manager of the Philadelphia personal injury law firm restating a settlement offer - and strategically omitting an acknowledgment that I'd told her, during a phone conversation, that I wouldn't settle until I'd met with an attorney - continued. Because I'd already told the claims manager in no uncertain terms that I would not respond to any letters or settlement offers from the firm until I'd met with and spoken to an attorney, and began to wonder why she was continuing to send letters as though she'd never spoken to me about this.
Finally, in February 2002, a letter came from the claims manager claiming that I had stated I wouldn't settle for less than $200,000.00 (NOT TRUE - I told her I'd had $20,000.00 in mind). In this latest letter, she wanted me to sign a new agreement with the firm stating that I knew and accepted that it could cost me a lot of money to take the case to court and that I would be responsible for any and all costs. She also included a copy of a letter she'd sent to the defendant government facility's insurance claims adjuster telling him that I was refusing to consider any settlement for less than $200,000.00.
At this point, in February 2002, which was over 15 months after my fall, my rages had ceased and my family and I were on much better terms. I showed the letter from the Philadelphia personal injury law firm's claims manager to my wife, who was NEVER a client of the law firm. It was at this point that my wife confessed to me that she had spoken to the claims manager in the summer of 2001, during her one and only contact with the law firm, about my rages, had asked the claims manager to have a lawyer call her to discoss the rages and possible link to the head injury. It was at this time,and because of the attitude of the claims manager (who clearly didn't want to document the injuries my wife was describing to her), that my wife became convinced that the firm's only objective was to purposely not document all my injuries and to try to make me settle quickly and cheaply without going to court. My wife explained to me that this was why she wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with this personal injury law firm, money or not, because the firm was, she said, a "personal injury mill". (We both learned later on that the correct term in the legal world is that the firm is a "clearinghouse", meaning they take all the cases they can, coerce the clients into settling quickly and cheaply, and drop them or use other questionable tactics if the client wants the case taken to court.)
I had to agree with my wife at this point because it was obvious to me that the firm was trying to minimize any physical or emotional problems I had suffered during the time period when I was waiting for a lawyer to call me.
I was extremely upset at this letter from the claims manager and wrote an email to the law firm expressing my anger about the false claim that I wouldn’t settle for less than $200,000.00. I also stated that I would NOT sign a new fee agreement. I also told them I was outraged over the lack of communication from an actual lawyer and demanded one call from a lawyer to talk about my case and injuries. I received a return receipt that the e-mail had been received and opened by the law firm. Now that I’d put my complaint in writing, and I had proof that the firm had received that e-mail, the firm’s managing attorney finally called on March 4, 2002...over a year after they were hired by me.
The managing lawyer tried to soothe me and promised a phone call from another attorney she was assigning to my case. In the meantime, my wife told me about the letter she'd written to the neurologist in December 2001 concerning my rages. She told me that he'd recommended a special test at that time when he'd called her in response to the letter she'd written My wife never told me about his recommendation of the test nor her letter to him and subsequent conversation because when I returned home from my out-of-state booking in late December 2001, I was ill with a newly diagnosed,severe and acute respiratory problem and our focus was on that problem. Again, as I said, the rages and headaches had ceased by that time (January 2002). Oddly, it seemed that the asthma medication I was put on seemed to quell my rages.
A lawyer from the Philadelphia personal injury law firm did call (March 2002) a few days after I'd spoken with their managing attorney. It was now 14 months since I’d signed the agreement with the firm and this was the first time, other than the call from the managing lawyer a few days earlier, that I’d even spoken to an actual attorney.
From the beginning of our conversation, it was clear that this lawyer’s job was to get me to settle quickly, cheaply, and without a meeting. He said he'd reviewed my records that my injuries amounted to headaches and a scar. I told him that the headaches had lasted nearly a year, there were also documented vision problems, and there were other emotional symptoms I'd experienced and which my wife had told the claims manager about in July of 2001, for which I'd gone back to the neurologist for treatment for, again, in September, 2001 when the firm had not been returning my calls, but which their claims manager had known about and mentioned in a letter.
I also told this Philadelphia personal injury attorney about my wife's letter to the neurologist in December 2001 telling him of my behavioral problems of a year's duration, and dating back to immediately after the fall, and about the neurologist's recommendation that I have a CAT scan. Then I explained that the rages and headaches had now ceased and that both my wife and I didn't now think further testing was necessary. I was, I told him, experiencing a continuing problem with vision and that I'd had to buy reading glasses while away during the previous summer. Again, I asked to meet with him in his office,to see what had been done on the case, what letters had been written to the defendant's attorney, what injuries were being claimed, etc. This attorney put me off about the meeting and insisted that I first return to the neurologist and have the CAT scan. I asked him why, as I no longer had headaches (since three months prior) but only a slight feeling of pressure. He said he’d meet with me if I went back to the neurolotist and had the test. I explained I had to go away in late April 2002, and would make an appointment with the neurologist before this and have the test if that is what he (the attorney) thought I must do. The real reason I agreed is because I wanted the meeting to see if any work at all had been done on the case, and it was apparent that there would be no meeting if I didn't cooperate with this attorney.
I told the lawyer at this point that the man who had set up the carpet at the facility where I fell had recently come into a local place where I was performing and had apologized to me for what had happened. I suggested that this man would probably be willing to testify about how dangerous the carpet had been, as he no longer worked for the facility, but "might be called back" (this is what the man had told me) and did he (the lawyer) want me to have the man call him before he got recalled for work at the facility? The lawyer from the Philadelphia law firm didn’t act interested at all in this witness who could contest any claim of my liability in the fall and ignored my offer.
The lawyer also wanted to speak with my wife about her interests in the case, and I told him she wanted nothing to do with the firm, was aware of her rights, and that she didn’t want to speak with them at all since they had ignored her requests for a phone call from a lawyer and for help in convincing me to return to the neurologist in the summer of 2001. I told the attorney that my wife was very, very unhappy with how they had handled (and neglected) my case and that she did not trust the firm and thought they were trying to lessen my injuries and push for a cheap settlement.
My wife had been telling me repeatedly, since the July 2001 conversation with the claims manager from this Philadelphia law firm, that it was clear to her that I'd gotten myself a law firm who was trying to take the cheap way out (fast settlement) rather than fight for a fair compensaton through litigation. As I explained earlier, she hadn't fully explained, until recently, what had made her so sure about this - the conversation with the claims manager about my emotional injuries and the claims manager's attempt to ignore what she'd been told.
A few days after this initial phone call, a letter came from the lawyer “confirming” our conversation. Among other things, he stated that I'd told him I'd only had headaches for "two months" (NOT TRUE...the headaches went on for a year, and there was a visit to the neurologist 10 months after the fall for ongoing headaches and other symptoms, and I had told him this, plus it was in my medical records from the neurologist, which the attorney had in his possession.)
This was the first of many letters which I received from this laywer (and subsequently other lawyers from the firm assigned to handle me) which were full of evasions, falsehoods, and downright lies. As I told the firm in a later letter, it seemed clear that the law firm was attempting to discredit me and my case by creating a false scenario - via letters - of what I'd said and of other facts. It became more and more evident that the law firm was writing letter for a third person to read in the future which would distort the truth, and I told them my feelings about this in a letter.
I had to write back and refute the all the lies the lawyer was "confirming" in his letters. This was the beginning of a long and horrendous pattern of this law firm writing letters to which I had to respond to refute what he was saying. In addition, there were many questions about my case and rights which I asked this firm to answer (in future correspondence) which were very relevant to the case, but nearly every question was ignored, evaded or answered untruthfully.
I made the appointment and went to the neurologist in late March of 2002. I felt ridiculous returning to the neurologist but I told the neurologist the truth - that I now only had slight presure in the area of the injury. I mentioned that my wife had related to me his suggestion for a CAT scan. The neurologist prescribed the CAT scan he’d told my wife about. A few weeks later I had to drive all the way to _________ from ________ to review my test results. He explained a finding that I didn't understand, but that he (the neurologist) didn’t seem too concerned about. The visit lasted about 5 minutes (after a long time in the waiting room), and he charged me $35.00.
I returned home and tried to call the lawyer to tell him I'd visited the neurologist, but he always wasn’t in. In the meantime, I had to go away again to work another out-of-state booking.
Letters came to the house while I was away. I tried calling the law firm, but the attorney was never available and didn't return my calls. My wife, so upset with the firm, didn't want to open them but did when I called and most of them were repeated questions about if I went to the neurologist and what did he say? Finally, one arrived shortly before I was to return home from the month-long booking. I wasn't available that day for my wife to reach me, so she didn't open it but wrote an e-mail to the lawyer very early on the morning of May 22nd (about 5am) which she received a receipt for and stated that I was in still away, but she gave a phone number where I could be reached if there was anything urgent.
A few days later another letter came from the firm. The lawyer had pretended he hadn’t gotten the email early on May 22nd,and also dated his letter May 22nd. He attempted to predate the May 22nd letter (a tactic he'd used in other letters by different means) by stating “as I dictate this letter on May 21st”, something he’d never said before, but the letter was mailed “May 22nd PM”. In the letter, the lawyer said that if he didn’t get a "written response" -note, it had to be written - from me telling him that I’d gone to the neurologist and the test results from the neurologist by May 29th (this was over the Memorial Day week-end), then he would go ahead and attempt to settle the case for between $5000.00 and $10,000.00. I was very upset by this deadline and ultimatum - as the attorney knew that I was away and acknowledged such in a previous letter, plus he knew the name of the neurologist and could have called him himself -and when I returned home on the 28th and had to overnight a letter (FedEx) to keep him from settling my case.
I was also upset because the meeting he’d promised before any settlement was decided upon obviously wasn’t going to happen, even though I kept writing and asking for a meeting.
I quickly responded and FedExed the letter to meet the attorney's demand that I respond in writing and to prevent him from settling my case for $5000 (which, after subrogation rights from my health insurer had been satisfied -the latest test the lawyer'd demanded I have cost over $2000.00 - and the attorney's fees would leave me nothing.)
Even though the letter was overnighted (at considerable expense and trouble) and he received it by the deadline of May 29th, I didn’t hear from the laywer and had to call him several times (he was always “out”) before he finally called back on June 5th, a week later.
The lawyer kept asking me during this conversation what the neurologist had found out and I said I didn’t understand the medical term he'd used, and that he (the lawyer) should call the neurologist himself. He grew quite angry and began yelling that it would cost money for a neurologists report.
Now I was really upset at his abusive tone. I demanded to know why he was claiming in his letters to me that the only injuries I’d suffered were a small scar and some headaches when not only had the neurologist but my family doctor had documented a concussion, vision problems were treated by the eye doctor (which I’d found out, when I reviewed my records, were called vitreous degeneration and detachment) and the emotional problems, which I was now sure had been cause by the concussion, that my wife had requested the law firm call her about the previous year. I asked him if he’d written any letters of demand to the facility's insurance company, which, 18 months after the injury, I'd learned from other sources, he should have done by now if he was a competent attorney. I told him I’d like a meeting and wanted to see what had been done, if anything, on my case.
The attorney ignored my questions and began screaming at me to tell him what the neurologist had told me about my test. I told him - yet again - I didn’t understand the medical terminology the neurologist had used but, still, he kept screaming “Say it! Say it! You won't tell be because there is nothing wrong with you!”.
I was very upset at his behavior. I asked him when I could have the meeting he had promised me (if I returned to the neurologist and had the test I didn't want to have) to review my case. He refused to answer but continued screaming. In fact, the lawyer was screaming so loud that my wife and my son heard him in the next room and came into the room to see what was going on. My wife called out to me to insist the law firm grant me at least one meeting to see what whas going on in my file. Then the laywer screamed at me to “Get yourself another laywer!” and hung up.
The next thing I knew a CERTIFIED letter (this was the first instance of a certified letter from either of us, but there there were later claims from the firm that I had sent the first certified letter) from the law firm telling me that the lawyer had gotten a Narrative Summary from the neurologist and that there was only a small mucous retention cyst, a “common finding”, and no residual problems from the fall or probability of future problems. The letter from the lawyer also stated that I was "so convinced" that returning to the neurologist would shed light on my condition. This was a ridiculous claim and a very untrue claim as it was the lawyer who had insisted during the very first conversation (in March 2002) that I return to the neurologist and have tests or he wouldn’t meet with me!
The neurologist’s report didn’t mention my wife’s letter of December 2001 (concerning my rages) and the neurologist's subsequest phone call to her but instead stated that my wife had “called” him at some recent point (not true) and had told him that I was quick to anger in “the last six months or so” (which was also not true, that would have been between January 2002 - July 2002, and she had WRITTEN to him in December 2001, and not called (he had called her) and told the neurologist the behavioral problems had begun in 2000 and continued to shortly before she wrote the December 2001 letter)..The neurologist, strangely, didn’t mention the other symptoms which he'd previously treated me for, and even questioned my concussion that he’d himself diagnosed in earlier reports.
The sudden change in attitude towards my condition by the neurologist (after being contacted by the lawyer) and obvious attempt to refute and correct his own previous diagnoses was a very upsetting turn of events. There was no mention at all of the post concussion syndrome in the report which he had diagnosed two months after my fall. The neurologist even stated I'd "fallen backward", which wa ludicrous, as all 8000 people who witnessed the fall saw me fall on my forehead (with no hands available to break my fall). How could I fall backward and hit my forehead??
My wife was upset at this false report and at the implication that she’d called him only recently. She called the office and asked to speak to him. The neurologist called back and was very angry with her for questioning his “opinion”. He hung up on her.
I then wrote to the law firm and told them about the very relevant and damaging (to my case) errors, omissions, and even outright mistakes contained in the neurologist's report. The law firm ignored my complaint, did nothing to correct the faulty report, but responded by telling me that they would no longer represent me in my claim now or ever. The letter also informed me that they were not going to meet with me, despite the fact that I’d been promised a meeting, And that the law firm had decided they wouldn’t return my files to me but would send them to my new attorney. This was in July , 2002, with less than 4 months left for the statute of limitations to expire. That was the last letter from this firm until November 4th, only days before the statute of limitations would run.
Around this time, and even prior to this, I tried to get another lawyer and also began sending for medical records not in my possession (such as the ER record from the night of the injury) with the assistance of my wife. I didn’t fire the firm but didn’t want to put up with their abuse any longer. I contacted several lawyers who declined to take the case because of all the time that had passed. Finally, I found a lawyer in _________, PA who met with me, reviewed my files, listened to my story, and seemed very interested. However, after this lawyer talked to the Philadelphia lawyer, his attitude toward my case and me changed, just like the neurologist's had once the lawyer spoke with him. He told me that the lawyer had been “diplomatic” when he’d talked to him, suggesting that the lawyer had discredited me in a nice way. He said the neurologist's report (which I’ve stated was erroneous) would hurt my case. He said he’d only take the case if I’d settle for the $5000.00 already offered. He sent us an agreement in which he wanted me to agree to pay him 1/3 of the gross settlement, before expenses, and I would cover all expenses, no matter what they came to, myself. He also wanted complete Power of Attorney and could turn the case over to whatever representative - tramslate lawyer - he wanted. There were other things in the agreement that made me realize I’d be crazy to sign it as it could, possibly, cost me more than I’d be given in any settlement!
I tried to call the attorney back but suddenly he wasn't available. Because I again had to go away on a booking, I asked my wife to try and get in touch with this attorney to get a Power of Attorney form so she could sign any forms, should something happen,while was away. She didn't want to do this but agreed as it would be only a few days before the statute would run when I would return from my booking.
My wife emailed the attorney several times but he didn't respond. And when she drove to the city where his office was, he "wasn't in", but there were other clients there waiting to see him (he has no partners) and my files were there waiting to be picked up. Like everyone else to whom my attorney spoke about my case, this attorney, too, had acted like I was poison.
I spent the rest of the summer, when I was home, sending for medical records and trying to find out what had gone on in my case. My wife helped when she could. I also continued to ask for my files from the law firm, but they ignored my letters.
In the meantime, I received the medical files from the ER where I'd been treated on the night of the injury. I found out that no head x-ray had ever been taken at the ER, which I could not believe since that was where my main injury occured. (The politician who hired me had been watching my performance, saw me fall, saw me bleed, and ran down from his box seat and asked the paramedics "where is the injury located?". The paramedics reported to him "it's a head injury".Then he left. I found it odd, therefore, that no head xray was taken, only a neck xray...I hadn't complained about my neck.)
I then had my wife call Blue Cross, as she is the subscriber to our family plan, and ask them to send my records relating to the treatment of this injury. She sent a letter, as well, When, a month later, there was no response, she called Blue Cross while I was away to see why no records or call had come in. I found out that the Blue Cross file had been closed by the law firm, that Blue Cross had been paid. The subrogation rep from Blue Cross couldn’t believe it when my wife told her my case hadn’t been settled yet. She said the law firm had paid Blue Cross in September 2001 and Blue Cross had been told the case had been "settled", and that the attorney had taken a 25% fee from their interest in the case. As far as lue Cross was concerned, the case was closed. She told me she’d never seen this happen before(Blue Cross's subrogation interest being paid before a law suit was settled) and it was so “unusual, in fact, that I contacted our attorneys”.
My wife told the Blue Cross subrogation representative, at her request, the name of the facility's insurance company and claims manager (which I’d seen on correspondence from the Phila law firs), and she(the Blue Cross subrogaton rep) called the facility's insurance company. The claims adjuster there told told The BC rep that the case was still opened. The Blue Cross rep called my wife back and told her the findings, and both of them were confused about why the case had been closed without my knowledge (or that of the subscriber, my wife) and before the case had been settled.
Several attorneys, during the quest for a new attorney, told me that I should hire a malpractice attorney. Some suggested contacting the Disciplinarian Board of the Supreme Court. I sent for a complaint form but never sent it out as it would take a great deal of time, and my efforts, I thought, were better spent on trying to get an attorney before time ran out.
One attorney said something I didn’t know. He said he couldn’t take the case because the facility where the injury occured was owned, he was certain, by a government entity, and he had a feeling that the problem with the case might be that the attorney didn’t file notice within the required 6 months with the municiple authority which owned the facility. He suggested I look into whether my attorney had served proper notice to the government facility's managers and officials. He sent me a copy of this Pennsylvania statute a few days later.
In August, 2002, I had my wife send, on my behalf, a letter to the law firm asking if they had ever filed the proper notice to the government entity which owned the building and managed the facility. The law firm never answered the letter.
This is the end of Part I.
The following is a quick summary of the rest of the story. It is by no means complete. The attorney did so many, many things to cover his fanny that it would fill a volume to tell all. Let's just say this...if he put even 1% of the effort in pleading his client's case as he did in hiding evidence of the emotional problems the client suffered during the time he (the attorney) had been neglecting the case, not to mention the volumes of fake-scenario letters intending to discredit his client, there would be no need to write this entry now.
NOTE: research into the political affiliations of the errant attorney are dismaying. It might do no good to report the attorney to the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania...the firm is a BIG contributor to the compaign funds of one of the judges...
The client must go out of town and there are now only two months left till the statute runs. The client asks his wife to look into things further. The wife calls the facility's insurance company, since the the client's attorney isn't answering their letters since he (the attorney) dropped the case in July, 2002.
The senior claim manager of the facility's insurance company tells the client's wife that he can't give her any information because, despite the letter she has in her possession dated 6 weeks earlier, as far as he is concerned, the Philadelphia law firm is still representing the client and it would be "unethical" to discuss the case with her. When the client's wife asks what makes the defendant's insurance company think that the Philadelphia law firm is still the client's attorney, the claims manager explains that he's just received a letter (on Sept 9th, 2002) from the Philadelphia law firm attorney asking "who owns the facility?".
On the same day that the wife speaks with the facility's insurance company, a Fed Ex truck arrives at the house with the files from the husband's attorney. In the files is a check for nearly $2000.00, made out to the client, which "remains from the medical escrow" account the client didn't even know existed. There is a vague explanation of expenses deducted from whatever the original amount of the medical escrow....the neurologist has been paid, Blue Cross's subrogation interest has been paid (but not Blue Shield, which has a $2100 subrogation interest lien for the CAT scan the Philadelphia attorney insioted the client have in April, 2002), and there are other vague deductions, such as a $129 fee for a courier express agency for "deed - ___________(the client's house). "WHAT is THIS?", the client's wife wonders??...update on this: in June 2003, the client was informed by the new attorney that the old attorney put this line into the original contingency fee agreement to assure that if the client balked at the tiny settlement offerings the law firm was pushing, they could withdraw appearance and place a lien on the client's house).
The client writes to the Philadelphia attorney and asks for an explanation of what the expenses are for and what he's supposed to do with the check, but gets no explanation or response to this question or the many other questions asked. Of note, in the file, there are no actual papers showing the subrogation transactions from Blue Cross and the attorney, which the client already has in his possession since Blue Cross sent them the month before.
After a compelling letter from the client, in which the client explains that he intends to take this matter to court and the "mistakes" on the neurologist's report will be more than mistakes if he fails to correct them, the neurologist corrects his one "mistake" about the wife's letter in December 2001 telling him about her husband's rages, but adds a note that the client never mentioned his mood swings to the neurologist
The client locates a copy of the endorsed check from the September 2001 office visit to the neurologist. Clearly written in the memo by the client's wife is "office visit: headaches, mood swings, depression, other symptoms"
When confronted with the check, which the bank verifies as not having been altered in any way, which would , the client's lawyer writes back that the neurologist claims he "has no record" of the check. The client faxes a statement from the bank that it has not been altered, a copy of the back of the check which clearly shows the neurologist's signature and asks for the neurologist to either confirm or deny the he told the client's attorney that he has no record of the check. The neurologist refuses to respond to his patient in any way.
The law firm's "clean up man" comes up with a brilliant tactic to get a malpractice release: he has more than one letter from the client stating that his wife "wants nothing to do with your firm", and has been told on the phone the same, so he puts the wife's name on both the writ of summons and complaint and, when she naturally protests, offers to take it off in exchange for her signature on a release of malpractice form.
Having accomplished what the firm set out to do, the firm tries to force a settlement quickly by sending the client a different certificate of service with the preliminary objection (than the one on file in the prothonotary's office) from the defense attorney: two different dates, two different signatures - from the same attorney - for the same document. The document the client receives has the earlier date. The client, in a certified letter, writes to the (his) attorney and asks exactly when the 20 days allowed to respond are up. The attorney refuses to respond to the question, and, instead, writes back and demands an immediate validation.
When that doesn't work, suddenly the claims manager of 2001, who has had no contact with the client in over 18 months, makes a phone call to the client. "As a courtesy", she is letting him know, she says, that she "just got a call from the claims manager" of the defendant's insurance company. He is offering a $10,000.00 settlement! The client calls the law firm's office for an explanation and gets an "answering service", and someone there tells the client that neither the claims manager nor the attorney are in. (The client later finds out the law firm doesn't have an answering service). No calls are returned.
Another letter comes from the same claims manager (who called about the $10,000 offer, and states that she didn't know that the client had been dealing with an attorney from the firm. She was just passing an offer she'd suddenly received from the defendant's facility's insurance company. Oh, and by the way, the managing attorney of the firm is willing to take $600.00 off the attorney's fee, PLUS the client has that $2000.00 medical escrow check (which he does not...he sent that back to the facility's insurance company within a month of receiving it, as he didn't want to be accused of insurance fraud).
The client writes a letter to the firm asking them to please answer questions about the medical escrow check and about if they paid Blue
When the client and his wife refuse to validate the complaint with her name on it, even thought there is a 5-figure settlement - because they stand by the truth that she was never a client, the attorney validates it himself, then files a motion to withdraw appearance.
The husband and wife have heard about, and do research on in local newspapers, and discover a particular judge has a record and a reputation for ruling in favor of the defendant and hope that that judge doesn't get assigned to the "withdrawal of appearance hearing". He does. They try to have him excuse himself, but are not successful.
The day of the withdrawal comes, the judge empties the packed courtroom (except for a few county jail prisoners and his own staff) so there are no witnesses, such as other lawyers) to hear what he has to say about this case. The judge smirks as the clients approach the bench, and states, "I don't know why anyone would want an attorney to represent them who didn't want to be on the case." The client explains that the current attorney has waited until the eleventh hour to ask to be dismissed, and no other attorney wants to step in at this point. The client then points out all the unethical things the lawyer has done and appeals to the judge to advise the attorney to answer the questions the lawyer has refused to answer for the client. The judge scoffs and shrugs his shoulders at everything the client and his wife tell him about the lawyer. He allows the lawyer to excuse himself from the case. The couple later order the transcript...and it does not at all reflect what was said at the proceding. But remember, there were no witnesses except for the judge's own minions and a few criminals from the local prison waiting for their turn in front of the bench...
Now without an attorney, the client writes to the defendant's attorney and asks why there were two different certificates of service,dated ten days apart, both for the same preliminary objection. The defendant's attorney waits three weeks and writes back and asks the client to call him, but the clieet again asks for an explanation. There is no response.
(Final update: the case has been settled by the new attorney for much more than the original law firm said the case was worth. Once a NEW attorney got involved, things changed rapidly. See August 2003 update.
However, the OLD personal injury law firm is back advertising heavily again in the Northeast. Beware!!)
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