Question by nunciata22: Personal injury attorney not releasing funds from settled portion of our case?
We have been dealing with a personal injury lawsuit for about two years. The accident occurred in CA and we reside in another state, so we are dealing with our attorney all long distance. The case has been complicated, mainly due to an inattentive attorney from the start, whom we fired. We retained our current attorney not too long ago and the case against the defendants insurance company has been resolved and funds have been sent to our attorney. Here is where it becomes tricky. The funds for my settlement have been sent to us, the attorney is holding the funds from my husband’s portion of the settlement until a settlement is reached with our insurance company (the defendant was an underinsured driver, we had underisured driver coverage). Our attorney claims he cannot release these funds because he will more than likely need to spend the money on litigating the case against our insurance company..and it just does not make sense to me. In our eyes, the case against the defendant is closed (and in the courts eyes) I don’t see why the funds cannot be released, but my attorney alleges this is normal practice in personal injury law. Anyone have any experience with a situation similar to this? Thanks.
@leo, I don’t think you understand the nature of the question.

Best answer:

Answer by leo@askbiblitz.com
You don’t think the insurance company is going to give you a run for that money, claiming unjust enrichment and so on? Mouthpiece is right! Insurance companies write the rules of insurance. These guys have nothing but money for legions of attys to defend this type of claim. Prepare to do battle – and possibly lose!

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