Did Not Receive Settlement $ from Attorney

[sdrie]

I have a feeling my husband needs to hire an attorney but not sure what area of law. My stepdaughter passed away in 2017 due to a horse riding accident. There was some medical neglect at the children's hospital she was treated at. There was a lawsuit and settlement reached with my husband and his ex wife listed at the awarded parties. For whatever reason, all the money was distributed to my husbands ex. She randomly dropped a check off for $10,000 stating this was my husband's portion. We know it should have been more but when he requested more details from the ex and the attorney, they have ignored his requests and are refusing to give the information. I'm pretty sure this is not legal or okay but what do we do?

Please help. Question from Texas

[Mark47n]

I have a feeling my husband needs to hire an attorney but not sure what area of law. My stepdaughter passed away in 2017 due to a horse riding accident. There was some medical neglect at the children's hospital she was treated at. There was a lawsuit and settlement reached with my husband and his ex wife listed at the awarded parties. For whatever reason, all the money was distributed to my husbands ex. She randomly dropped a check off for $10,000 stating this was my husband's portion. We know it should have been more but when he requested more details from the ex and the attorney, they have ignored his requests and are refusing to give the information. I'm pretty sure this is not legal or okay but what do we do?

Please help. Question from Texas

Was the attorney his or, as it sounds, his ex wife's?

Did he have an attorney? if not, why on earth not and if he did why is he not speaking to his attorney?

He ex's attorney has no duty to answer his questions (unless he was also that attorney's client) and his ex has no duty to answer his questions.

If he requires a copy of the court's decision then he can certainly get it from the court but without know exactly what the decree and the terms of the award were there isn't much anyone can do.

[adjusterjack]

I have a feeling my husband needs to hire an attorney but not sure what area of law. My stepdaughter passed away in 2017 due to a horse riding accident. There was some medical neglect at the children's hospital she was treated at. There was a lawsuit and settlement reached with my husband and his ex wife listed at the awarded parties. For whatever reason, all the money was distributed to my husbands ex. She randomly dropped a check off for $10,000 stating this was my husband's portion. We know it should have been more but when he requested more details from the ex and the attorney, they have ignored his requests and are refusing to give the information. I'm pretty sure this is not legal or okay but what do we do?

I can imagine several circumstances where it could be legal and it could be okay depending on the circumstances, which you and your husband appear to know little or nothing about.

Step one at this point is for you or your husband to visit the courthouse where the lawsuit was filed and get a complete copy of the case file, all of it, every page.

Once you have the file, come back to this thread to discuss.

Beyond that I agree with Mark47n's comments.

[sdrie]

Yes you are right. The attorney was hired by the ex wife. My husband did sign some paperwork with the attorney and the hospital refused to settle unless both parents were awarded. My Husband did not have an attorney. Why? I don't believe he felt he needed one. Is it too late now? We have a copy of the settlement and both the ex and my husband are named in it from the hospital. Both are named to be awarded the money. But we can't get a copy of how much was taken out for attorney fees and expert witnesses etc. And again, we have no idea why it wasn't dispersed equally like my husband was told would happen when this all started.

I can imagine several circumstances where it could be legal and it could be okay depending on the circumstances, which you and your husband appear to know little or nothing about.

Step one at this point is for you or your husband to visit the courthouse where the lawsuit was filed and get a complete copy of the case file, all of it, every page.

Once you have the file, come back to this thread to discuss.

Beyond that I agree with Mark47n's comments.

We have all the paperwork from the settlement already. And my husband had to sign paperwork on this and was specifically named in the paperwork for distribution.

[pg1067]

We know it should have been more

How is it that you "know" this? How old was your stepdaughter when she died?** I assume the lawsuit was against one or more medical providers. Correct? Was liability disputed? You said there was a settlement reached. Did your husband sign a settlement agreement? If so, did he keep a copy? If so, what does it say about the settlement amount?

** - While it might be unpleasant, the fact is that wrongful death cases for children are not particularly lucrative -- especially considering that medical malpractice cases require expensive expert witnesses and the lawyer typically gets 1/3 +/- right off the top.

I'm pretty sure this is not legal or okay but what do we do?

That depends to some extent on the terms of the written agreement between your husband and the lawyer who handled the wrongful death case (unless the lawyer was only your husband's ex's lawyer, in which case the lawyer owed your husband no duties). Sounds to me like your husband should have hired his own attorney a while back. If he wants more money or information, he may now need to retain his own lawyer.

[sdrie]

This is the husband. 1st I did not want to live through the ordeal again, yet here I am being pestered constantly by her. I have too much on my plate for this crap and stress. My ex (who's neglect caused this accident in the first place) filed a suit against the hospital which was technically the right thing to do if Texas didn't have such screwed up tort laws. Basically the most I could hit them with would be 250K for the dr and 250K for the hospital. It is cheaper to kill someone in TX than to maim them.

The hospital offered her a settlement if I would agree to be part of the settlement per the CSA. The CSA clearly states it is for the benefit of my ex and me. I should have gone back to them to have 1/2 dispersed to a different account. Live-n-learn. Once the disbursement was sent to her atty's trust account, my opinion would be that 75k or 1/2 of it would be dispersed to me. Only in the worst case scenario would the atty net the fees out of it. I really did not want my ex to profit from the death of her daughter which she caused the accident to happen in the first place. It makes me sick how she filed the suit when it was her fault my princess was in that crappy place on the 4th of July weekend to begin with.

I am looking for advise on how to get 1/2 of the proceeds as intended by the hospital and myself. Whether I go about this alone or more likely hire an atty, I want to reduce her benefit from the death of my princess as much as possible. I am also thinking of filing suit against the the atty (which his professional liability will end up covering) and making a complaint to the state bar for extremely unethical behavior by this atty. I am beyond livid at this point with the whole situation.

[Mark47n]

This is the husband. 1st I did not want to live through the ordeal again, yet here I am being pestered constantly by her. I have too much on my plate for this crap and stress. My ex (who's neglect caused this accident in the first place) filed a suit against the hospital which was technically the right thing to do if Texas didn't have such screwed up tort laws. Basically the most I could hit them with would be 250K for the dr and 250K for the hospital. It is cheaper to kill someone in TX than to maim them.

The hospital offered her a settlement if I would agree to be part of the settlement per the CSA. The CSA clearly states it is for the benefit of my ex and me. I should have gone back to them to have 1/2 dispersed to a different account. Live-n-learn. Once the disbursement was sent to her atty's trust account, my opinion would be that 75k or 1/2 of it would be dispersed to me. Only in the worst case scenario would the atty net the fees out of it. I really did not want my ex to profit from the death of her daughter which she caused the accident to happen in the first place. It makes me sick how she filed the suit when it was her fault my princess was in that crappy place on the 4th of July weekend to begin with.

I am looking for advise on how to get 1/2 of the proceeds as intended by the hospital and myself. Whether I go about this alone or more likely hire an atty, I want to reduce her benefit from the death of my princess as much as possible. I am also thinking of filing suit against the the atty (which his professional liability will end up covering) and making a complaint to the state bar for extremely unethical behavior by this atty. I am beyond livid at this point with the whole situation.

Your ex's attorney is likely entitled to a portion of the settlement as well as any fees that would've been included in the retainer agreement. You would be entitled to whatever share of the proceeds that are netted after the attorney's fees and other costs.

By not having your attorney you set yourself up for some difficulties as your ex's attorney doesn't have to cooperate with you, they only have to comply with the settlement.

How much was the settlement? What was the net value of the settlement? There must be an accounting of costs and how the disbursements broke out and I can't imagine it's not a part of your settlement paperwork.

You have no idea if the attorney has behaved unethically. Again, the attorney has no duty to you if you were not a part of the retainer agreement. They were not your attorney. noncooperation is not unethical or illegal. Also, if you've been combative or aggressive with the attorney and/or their staff then that would certainly make things harder.

[adjusterjack]

We have a copy of the settlement and both the ex and my husband are named in it from the hospital. Both are named to be awarded the money.

Christ. Another one who gives no information and expects quality answers.

You should have lead with that.

And the dollar amount of the settlement.

Tell us that dollar amount now.

Basically the most I could hit them with would be 250K for the dr and 250K for the hospital.

Are you saying that the total settlement was $500,000? If you aren't saying that, then knowing what you could have gotten is meaningless.

Give us the total amount of the settlement so I can do some figuring.

Once the disbursement was sent to her atty's trust account, my opinion would be that 75k or 1/2 of it would be dispersed to me. Only in the worst case scenario would the atty net the fees out of it.

That doesn't make sense. Are you now saying that the settlement was $150,000 and you were supposed to get half?

I am looking for advise on how to get 1/2 of the proceeds as intended by the hospital and myself. Whether I go about this alone or more likely hire an atty, I want to reduce her benefit from the death of my princess as much as possible. I am also thinking of filing suit against the the atty (which his professional liability will end up covering) and making a complaint to the state bar for extremely unethical behavior by this atty. I am beyond livid at this point with the whole situation.

Again, without knowing the amount of the settlement, I can't begin to back into any figuring.

One more thing, you wrote that your "ex filed a suit against the hospital." Did your name appear on the lawsuit as a Plaintiff? Check the court file before you answer. It's a critical bit of information.

[Taxing Matters]

Once the disbursement was sent to her atty's trust account, my opinion would be that 75k or 1/2 of it would be dispersed to me.

The details of the settlement agreement — the total amount of the settlement, whether it all gets paid at once or whether part of it is deferred, and how much of it is allocated to you and how much to your ex — are all important facts. It also matters what the attorney's fees and other costs were. It is common for tort claims that the lawyer's fee is around 33% to 40% and the client also pays for other costs of litigation, too.

I really did not want my ex to profit from the death of her daughter which she caused the accident to happen in the first place. It makes me sick how she filed the suit when it was her fault my princess was in that crappy place on the 4th of July weekend to begin with.

Focus on determining what amount you are entitled to get and pursue that. If you make your focus revenge against your ex and trying to chop down how much she gets then in my experience you are likely to waste time and effort on something that in the end you'll be disappointed with anyway.

I am also thinking of filing suit against the the atty (which his professional liability will end up covering) and making a complaint to the state bar for extremely unethical behavior by this atty. I am beyond livid at this point with the whole situation.

So far it's not really clear the attorney has done anything wrong. Start by determining what you were really entitled to get of this and whether all or just part of the settlement proceeds have been paid out.

[pg1067]

If you walked into any attorney's office to discuss this, the FIRST thing the attorney would want to do is review the settlement agreement because it's impossible to provide useful information without reading it. That's what you need to do now.