Tip Of The Week – 1 Week After Castellanos
Greetings,
Well today is one week since Castellanos, and we have already seen an impact. I have had 6 mediations, so let me share some insight as to what I have seen so far.
One attorney was demanding a $7,500 side attorney fee on top of a $12,500 settlement (against the other carrier in my claim), even though he had not secured any benefits. In fact, he had filed all 3 PFB’s incorrectly under the wrong date of accident, 2 were against my carrier incorrectly. He wanted the fee because he “had a lot of time in the file”. It did not settle.
Another attorney had filed 7 PFB’s, and tried claiming a $4-5,000 fee on top of a $15,000 settlement. We made him specifically show us where he claimed entitlement, and he pointed to two of the PFB’s. We were able to show the benefits were in fact timely provided, and he dropped the fee claim and we settled for $15,000.
On another claim, we had an opening demand of $80,000, a pending arthroscopic knee surgery, already authorized. The rationale for the unreasonable starting point was that there is now hourly fee exposure IF a benefit in the future would be denied or paid untimely. We were ultimately able to get it settled for a good value, $20,000, but it took a lot longer than usual to get there.
One the claimant’s attorney said the claimant would not resign her job, surprisingly, even though she is retiring from the job in 3 months. We could not even get a demand from her attorney. Total controvert.
One yesterday settled for a pre-Castellanos appropriate settlement on a lumbar strain.
My sixth one, the claimant has used her 1-time change, both doctors say the accident is not the MCC of the need for treatment, and they are holding out for $10,000. Normally this would have settled for $5,000 or less.
In total, I was able to get three of six settled, one is not my exposure, one we could not even get a demand, and one they are holding out for twice what it is worth.
So we are already seeing a few things:
- Higher demand because of simply the potential of fee exposure;
- Claims of attorney fees without any entitlement; and
- Claimant attorney’s hanging on to some claims to try and earn a fee.
If they are claiming a fee, delve into exactly what benefit they are claiming is the basis and ensure that a fee is owed. If a fee is owed, stipulate to entitlement at least if you can not resolve the amount to stop their fee clock. Otherwise it just keeps on going.
I am also seeing a lot more PFB’s being filed already.
Once a week, we will be compiling and summarizing any JCC orders awarding contested fees and sending those out in our Briefly Speaking email updates. This will let everyone see what is going on around the state. If you do not receive the Breifly Speaking emails now, please email esantos@eraclides.com
Keep fighting the good fight.
Sincerely,