This current Trump mess over his lawyers’ fees, reminded me of a car accident my Mom was involved in several years ago. (Trump and a car accident, who would have thought!)
Mom was t-boned at an intersection as she was driving to deliver a Christmas present to a friend. It wasn’t her fault as the other lady ran the stop sign and plowed broadside into Mom. It totaled Mom’s car and put her in the hospital with a collapsed lung. In fact, she spent that Christmas in the hospital.
The lady who ran into Mom would not talk to Mom when called to discuss reimbursement for her hospital bills and damages to her car. Mom had no choice then but to contact a lawyer. I suggested one to her and she retained his services in the matter.
Long story short, all of Mom’s medical bills were eventually paid in full and she ended up with $16K to buy a new car. However, the lawyer took 25% leaving Mom with only $12,000 to buy a new car.
Since there was no way she could buy a new car for that amount and needed to shell out some of her own money for the car, Mom was rightfully upset. She was upset not only about the settlement but also about the whole deal including my suggestion of the lawyer. She did not directly blame me for costing her money, but you know how Moms can make you feel guilty.
I called the lawyer and got the run around. He blamed the insurance company as he explained that because Mom and the lady who hit her both had the same insurance company, there was no way to threaten to sue them for a higher settlement. According to the lawyer, all the insurance company wanted to do was settle as quickly and cheaply as possible. He explained how Mom’s car was older and the insurance company had given her the “book value” of the vehicle. The lawyer concluded by making some disparaging remark about how “these damn insurance companies just want to screw people.”
I then brought up his 25% fee and noted that that too should have been in the mix for reimbursement in addition to the value of the car. The lawyer gave me some weasel words about that not being how it worked. I finally lost it with him and concluded by saying something to the effect “Good riddance and have a nice life.”
I have since learned that the whole issue of lawyers’ fees is all over the map with no set guidelines. (Here is a good article on the matter click here.) In retrospect with Mom’s case, I should have shopped around some more to see what other lawyers would have charged us.
I will conclude with my favorite lawyer joke: a plumber fixed a leaky sink for a lawyer and gave him a bill for $200. The lawyer said “It only took you 20 minutes to fix the leak. At $200 that’s $600 an hour. I don’t even make that kind of money.” The plumber replied “Neither did I when I was a lawyer.”