How settlement disbursement works

Houston Car Accident Lawyer Paul Moody

How Settlement Disbursement Works

Whether the case ends with a court decision or a settlement between the parties, there are usually bills to pay before the attorney and client get paid. Most of these bills are medical expenses.  Sometimes, the medical expenses can eat up the entire settlement. The doctors and hospitals, however, cannot take the attorney’s portion of the settlement. There are many cases in which the doctors and hospitals take everything – or almost – except for the attorney portion. This can often leave the person actually injured with little to no money.

Paul does not let this happen to his clients. Paul promises his clients that he will never take more in attorney’s fees than the amount of the client’s net settlement.

Houston Car Accident Lawyer Paul Moody

Example of two possible outcomes

John is seriously injured in an accident.  He incurs $300,000 in medical expenses.  The driver that hit him only had $150,000 in insurance coverage.  The standard lawyer agreement gives John’s lawyer one-third of the settlement.  That driver’s insurance carrier agrees to pay the policy limits of $150,000.  The lawyer tries to negotiate and reduce the medical bills, but only succeeds in getting them reduced from $300,000 to $90,000.  Significant reduction but the settlement distribution looks like this:

  • John’s lawyer gets $50,000
  • Hospital gets $90,000
  • John is left with $10,000

This happens a lot.  In fact, it happens more often than most people think.  No wonder lawyers have a reputation for being greedy.  But if Paul was John’s lawyer, the settlement distribution would be as follows:

  • Paul gets $30,000
  • Hospital gets $90,000
  • John is gets $30,000

You are the one that was hurt.  You are the one suffering.  Paul Moody will never take more money than his client gets at the end of the case.  That is a promise

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