Albany Injury Lawyers

Sometimes you just scratch your head

I've got this case that I started handling a couple years ago. I won't get into the details because it's still pending.

Client was injured and had gone to a lawyer. That lawyer sat on the case for two years, and did very little on it. I think he may have thought the case was worth nothing.

I got to know the client's wife from our previous office space. She was complaining about the other lawyer (who I know, like and respect), and I told her I'd take the case, but only if they paid the expenses up front.

So they hire me. This occurs about 2 years after the injury. We filed suit against the party we felt was responsible. It's not the easiest kind of claim, but there was something there and the client was motivated.

There were a number of delays along the way, mainly due to the defense (the defendant didn't respond initially when sued, but eventually his insurance company stepped up).

We just made a deal, right before trial, to arbitrate this case with a low of $20K and a high of $200K. I think the case is worth close to the $200K.

Even if I'm wrong it's worth $20K and that means a fee of over $5K (there have been signficant expenses). So we're talking about a fee of somewhere between $5K and $65K.

I'm scratching my head wondering why the other lawyer sat on the case. He's a good lawyer, well respected in the community (among both lawyers and non-lawyers). Maybe he's so successful that this kind of fee isn't enough to make him jump?

Or maybe he just made a bad call.

Car accident cases

A couple cases resolved themselves in the past couple days. A car accident case involving a forehead scar settled for $25K, though there is still a claim against another vehicle on that one. An old car accident case is settling for another $15K (had settled with the other car in that case for $100K).

Got a new car accident case recently. Client was a passenger and badly fractured his leg. Both cars are clearly liable but have minimum insurance ($25,000 each for my client). With one car it's tempting to go after the driver personally - someone driving a $30K car should have more insurance. But both client and I feel we should resolve the case and move on. With the other car, we're dealing with an insurance company that has some bad practices and this may lead to another bad faith claim against that company. But I suspect they've learned their lesson and will pay quickly on this one.