Women Gets $6.60 After Legal Fees

[red states rule]

My, how trial lawyers look after their clients


Suit ‘winner’ nets pocket change
Lawyers’ fees, expenses reimbursements leave her feeling cheated
By Michael Beebe NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 06/24/07 7:16 AM

When Justine Thompson was forced to retire from her state job after 28 years because of a nasty fall she took in an icy parking lot, she figured she had protected herself by hiring a personal injury attorney.

That was before the accounting of the $35,000 settlement arrived in the mail from Cellino & Barnes. The lawyer’s share was $10,000.

The law firm repaid itself another $3,600 in expenses.

New York took $21,000 to repay workers’ compensation. Justine Thompson’s share? A check for $6.60.

It’s not the kind of settlement that television ads for The Barnes Firm boast about, claiming $150 million for auto injury clients alone over the last few years.

“That’s not even enough to buy a Happy Meal,” says Thompson, who found nothing at all happy about the experience.

Neither do two attorneys, one from Rochester, another from Syracuse, who filed a malpractice suit on her behalf against Cellino & Barnes, its successor, The Barnes Firm, and Michael J. Cooper, the Barnes Firm lawyer who represented Thompson. “This lady is the poster girl for what’s wrong with this profession,” said S. Robert Williams, the Syracuse lawyer who filed the suit with Patrick J. Burke of Rochester.

More than just an example of a woman whose case they allege was mishandled, they say, this is a clash of philosophy on how to attract and satisfy clients in the controversial field of personal injury law.

for complete article

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/105328.html

 

[90K]

Well from the ambulance chases point they won and did the job that was asked of them. On the other hand sometimes what is it really worth? I would have thought after 28 years this women could have retired from the state, if even partial retirement????

 

[red states rule]

Well from the ambulance chases point they won and did the job that was asked of them. On the other hand sometimes what is it really worth? I would have thought after 28 years this women could have retired from the state, if even partial retirement????

Was Pretty Boy Edwards representing her?

 

[Shattered]

Who the hell wastes their time sueing anyone due to their own inability to remain on their feet in ice?

Good lord. Suck it the hell up, walk it off, and move on.

 

[red states rule]

Who the hell wastes their time sueing anyone due to their own inability to remain on their feet in ice?

Good lord. Suck it the hell up, walk it off, and move on.

Well, at least the lawyers got their money

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Who the hell wastes their time sueing anyone due to their own inability to remain on their feet in ice?

Good lord. Suck it the hell up, walk it off, and move on.

Nice sentiment. She injured herself at her place of work while attempting to get to her assigned area. She shouldn't have had to sue at all. She should have been covered.

 

[jillian]

Well, at least the lawyers got their money

Do you get paid when you work?

Oh right... you don't work.

 

[red states rule]

Do you get paid when you work?

Oh right... you don't work.

Like the clients of Pretty Boy Edwards, she did get SOME money

Now she has to make sure to report the income or else

 

[jillian]

Like the clients of Pretty Boy Edwards, she did get SOME money

Now she has to make sure to report the income or else

Your jealousy reeks... seriously. When you sign a retainer, you pay for experts and costs. And she probably had medical liens that had to be paid for HER medical treatment (or should doctors work for free, too?) The lawyer took a third. Standard retainer. Or do you think she could have paid an hourly fee and the lawyer should go to work for her and not get paid?

Do provide a link with respect to any client of John Edwards (if you don't like Bush being called names, I'd suggest you clean up what you call people) who didn't get money while he did. I look forward to it with anticipation.

Oh...and compensatory damages aren't taxable.

 

[red states rule]

Your jealousy reeks... seriously. When you sign a retainer, you pay for experts and costs. And she probably had medical liens that had to be paid for HER medical treatment (or should doctors work for free, too?) The lawyer took a third. Standard retainer. Or do you think she could have paid an hourly fee and the lawyer should go to work for her and not get paid?

Do provide a link with respect to any client of John Edwards (if you don't like Bush being called names, I'd suggest you clean up what you call people) who didn't get money while he did. I look forward to it with anticipation.

Oh...and compensatory damages aren't taxable.

Since Pretty Boy spend his days lecturing the rest of us about poverty, he is building a 30,000 sq ft compiund, making millions from his job a hedge fund, the poverty pimp made a killing by ripping off insurance companies and chasing ambulances

I am sure he made sure his clients got their "fair share" much like this womens lawyers

I know she is happy she does not have to report the $6.60 to the IRS - that made her day

 

[William Joyce]

A few points:

1. As Shattered correctly notes, falling on the damn ice is YOUR OWN FUCKING FAULT, not someone else's. Who put the ice there? I think it was God. So sue God. Jesus Christ, people are greedy.

2. Nobody is saying Stella Liebeck here has unpaid medical bills or loss of wages. THE WORKERS COMPENSATION LAW COVERED HER ON THAT ALREADY! All her needs are taken care of, to the tune of 21 grand! The "evil system" worked fine. The comp, by the way, is paid for by you and me because the insurance is required.

3. So what's she after? After going through the adjudicatory process of worker's comp? After costing the taxpayers however much for all that, plus insurance, etc.? After we might ask, wait, isn't this double-dipping? Class? Class? She was hoping to win Judge Pearson's lottery - some unspecified millions for her "pain and suffering". Well cry me a goddamn river. We all have pain and suffering and nobody's making us millionaires over it.

IF EVERYONE IN AMERICA WANTED A MILLION DOLLARS EVERY TIME THEY FELL DOWN AND WENT BOOM, OUR COUNTRY WOULD STOP FUNCTIONING.

John Edwards, $54 million for lost pants, baby doctors sued out of practice for problems that were going to happen anyway, spilled coffee... lawsuits are so out of control anyone trying to defend them is CRAZY. Or, making a lot of money off it.

 

[jillian]

A few points:

1. As Shattered correctly notes, falling on the damn ice is YOUR OWN FUCKING FAULT, not someone else's. Who put the ice there? I think it was God. So sue God. Jesus Christ, people are greedy.

2. Nobody is saying Stella Liebeck here has unpaid medical bills or loss of wages. THE WORKERS COMPENSATION LAW COVERED HER ON THAT ALREADY! All her needs are taken care of, to the tune of 21 grand! The "evil system" worked fine. The comp, by the way, is paid for by you and me because the insurance is required.

3. So what's she after? After going through the adjudicatory process of worker's comp? After costing the taxpayers however much for all that, plus insurance, etc.? After we might ask, wait, isn't this double-dipping? Class? Class? She was hoping to win Judge Pearson's lottery - some unspecified millions for her "pain and suffering". Well cry me a goddamn river. We all have pain and suffering and nobody's making us millionaires over it.

IF EVERYONE IN AMERICA WANTED A MILLION DOLLARS EVERY TIME THEY FELL DOWN AND WENT BOOM, OUR COUNTRY WOULD STOP FUNCTIONING.

John Edwards, $54 million for lost pants, baby doctors sued out of practice for problems that were going to happen anyway, spilled coffee... lawsuits are so out of control anyone trying to defend them is CRAZY. Or, making a lot of money off it.

I thought you're a lawyer.... if she had been covered by workers comp, she wouldn't have had a right to sue her employer EXCEPT under the workers comp law.

As for lost pants? That is an outright lie.... at least if you're talking about the child who got sucked into the drain and had her intestines pulled out of her while she was alive.

 

[red states rule]

Pretty Boy used junk science to rip off doctors and insurance companies out of millions

 

[jillian]

Pretty Boy used junk science to rip off doctors and insurance companies out of millions

Sure he did....

And how much has shrub ripped off taxpayers for?

 

[red states rule]

Sure he did....

And how much has shrub ripped off taxpayers for?

Just like a lib - when all else fails BLAME BUSH

 

[Shattered]

Nice sentiment. She injured herself at her place of work while attempting to get to her assigned area. She shouldn't have had to sue at all. She should have been covered.

Sorry, but common sense dictates that when shit falls out of the sky, you be careful. How many silly fucking females actually wear heels on ice just because they're too damned lazy to put on the proper footware, or it won't look right with their dress?

You don't sue someone for falling on ice in the middle of winter.

Sheesh.

 

[William Joyce]

I thought you're a lawyer.... if she had been covered by workers comp, she wouldn't have had a right to sue her employer EXCEPT under the workers comp law.

She got comp from her government employer. She sued the landlord and the "negligent" snowplow company - different parties. She also got disability, by the way. Justine Thompson actually manages to TRIPLE DIP here. Wow. So her falling on the ice is the fault of her employer, New York State, the fault of the building owner, and the fault of a snowplow company. Not her?

OK, for inside baseball, plaintiff's lawyers aren't usually this stupid, and it sounds like the mill that took her case was asleep at the wheel when calculating the settlement amount needed to accommodate the liens, etc. You see the numbers in front of you, and if all your client is going to get is six dollars, you TAKE IT TO TRIAL, explaining to the client that the defendants aren't going to give the amount you want. That way, even if you lose, the risks were known and nobody can complain. There is probably some merit to the legal malpractice claim, because a "reasonable attorney" wouldn't have settled for six bucks...

 

[red states rule]

She got comp from her government employer. She sued the landlord and the "negligent" snowplow company - different parties. She also got disability, by the way. Justine Thompson actually manages to TRIPLE DIP here. Wow. So her falling on the ice is the fault of her employer, New York State, the fault of the building owner, and the fault of a snowplow company. Not her?

OK, for inside baseball, plaintiff's lawyers aren't usually this stupid, and it sounds like the mill that took her case was asleep at the wheel when calculating the settlement amount needed to accommodate the liens, etc. You see the numbers in front of you, and if all your client is going to get is six dollars, you TAKE IT TO TRIAL, explaining to the client that the defendants aren't going to give the amount you want. That way, even if you lose, the risks were known and nobody can complain. There is probably some merit to the legal malpractice claim, because a "reasonable attorney" wouldn't have settled for six bucks...

You expect the trial lawyers to care if their client gets any money out of a case?

 

[William Joyce]

You expect the trial lawyers to care if their client gets any money out of a case?

I'm low on the list of those defending them, but sure, in so much as it's good for business. Their big hope is that they and the client get rich. Class actions are a different story, though... they get millions in fees and "class members" get checks like Ms. Thompson's.

 

[red states rule]

I'm low on the list of those defending them, but sure, in so much as it's good for business. Their big hope is that they and the client get rich. Class actions are a different story, though... they get millions in fees and "class members" get checks like Ms. Thompson's.

Silly ass cases (like the lost pants) and the screwing of clients is showing what a low buch trial lawyers are