Can I sue my workers comp attorney?
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Can I sue workers compensation attorney s?
A lawsuit filed against a lawyer by a prior or current client is considered a legal malpractice lawsuit and injured workers may sometimes sue workers compensation attorney s.
A legal malpractice lawsuit can be filed against an attorney when they have breached a duty to their client. An attorney owes their client various duties because of the fiduciary relationship the attorney has to the client and the various duties they are legally obligated to provide once they are retained for representation.
Like any attorney, a workers comp attorney can be sued for legal malpractice as well, so yes you can sue your workers comp attorney.
Call Maryland workers comp lawyer and personal injury attorney Andrew M. Rodabaugh for a FREE consultation! Call Us, Click to email or just fill out the form at the bottom of the page and Mr. Rodabaugh will contact you!
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Maryland workers compensation attorney Andrew M. Rodabaugh and his office offers information about Personal Injury law and Workers’ Compensation for informational purposes only. Nothing contained herein constitutes formal legal advice. If you need the advice of a Maryland workers compensation lawyer in Maryland, please contact him today. He has offices throughout the state and various convenient meeting locations. Each and every case needs to be evaluated before legal advice can be provided. Under no circumstance should the information on this website be considered medical advice. This is an attorney’s website and is not affiliated with any government agency or government entity of any kind.
1: What should I consider when filing a legal malpractice lawsuit against and before I sue workers compensation attorney?
There are both legal considerations and practical considerations an injured worker should take when determining whether it is in their best interest to file a legal malpractice claim. The legal considerations will be discussed in section 2.
Determining whether a legal malpractice lawsuit should be made and whether you can sue workers compensation attorney should start with a discussion with a different attorney to determine whether there are legal grounds to file a lawsuit and claim. If so then the injured worker should consider the value of the workers compensation claim, in addition to the potential value of the malpractice claim and weigh that benefit against the cost of bringing the lawsuit against your workers compensation attorney. The attorney handling the legal malpractice claim against your workers compensation attorney will likely advance any costs and in the event of a loss will accept that as his/her loss.
Bringing a lawsuit can be stressful and time consuming and the injured worker should consider this weight against the value of the workers compensation claim to determine if a lawsuit against their prior workers compensation attorney will be beneficial to them.
2:What are the first steps to filing a legal malpractice claim against my prior workers compensation attorney?
-Contact multiple workers comp attorneys to determine if the prior workers compensation attorney committed malpractice. Many attorney’s are reluctant to file a claim or lawsuit against another attorney or colleague they have worked with in the past. There are however workers comp attorneys that are willing to represent an injured worker for a workers compensation legal malpractice case and sue workers compensation attorney s. Going a step further, there are even workers compensation attorney’s that understand that they may have committed legal malpractice and may understand that their prior client is entitled to benefits, those of which were lost because of a mistake the attorney made.
It may take sometime to get a qualified workers compensation attorney to represent an injured worker an sue workers compensation attorney s who committed malpractice but if the case is legitimate they will be successful in securing representation and hopefully a recovery.
–Determine if there is likely to be success. A qualified workers compensation attorney should be able to look at all of the facts of the workers compensation claim and determine if the prior attorney did something that lead to the loss of the claim, or if the claim was simply not strong enough to be successful. More often than not, workers compensation claims are lost because of the overriding facts of the case and not because the attorney representing the injured worker did something wrong or negligent. This is the first step in determining whether you can and should sue workers compensation attorney s.
Below are some examples of when a workers compensation attorney may not have committed legal malpractice:
Examples of scenarios where the prior workers compensation attorney may not have satisfied their client but their actions likely did not arise to workers comp legal malpractice:
- “I had a hearing and my workers comp attorney did not call my spouse to the stand to testify.” While a spouse, family member, or loved one may have alot to offer in testimony to help everyone understand how the injury has affected the claimant the testimony may not always be relevant, nor helpful to the particular issue that is being heard at the hearing. This is usually not grounds to sue workers compensation attorney s.
- “My attorney waited to file for hearing after I went to the insurance company doctor.” Day in and day out attorney’s make judgement calls after balancing the facts and circumstances with the potential outcomes. Discretionary judgement calls by workers compensation attorney’s do not always lead to workers comp legal malpractice claims and this is unlikely a situation where you can sue workers compensation attorney s.
- I wanted to hire an attorney that was aggressive. The attorney indicates that he will fight for my rights but he is not fighting for me. There are times that aggression may only make matters worse. Experienced workers compensation attorneys will know which adjusters and defense attorneys aggression versus sternness will prevail.
Below are some examples of workers compensation attorneys committing malpractice and which may lead to a malpractice claim or legal malpractice lawsuit against that workers compensation attorney:
- Workers compensation attorney can be sued when she met with Claimant and signed her up for representation however she had not heard from the attorney in 2 years and her workers compensation claim was not timely filed with the Maryland workers compensation commission.
- Workers comp attorney can be sued when she was actively working on my claim and did not advise me that the statute of limitations was approaching and that I needed to seek compensation in order to toll the statute of limitations. I contacted the attorney and advised that the statute of limitations was approaching however she did not act in a timely fashion as he said he would. Failure to preserve the statute of limitations is one of the most common situations where an injured worker may sue workers compensation attorney s.
- A workers compensation attorney can be sued when he was using the injured workers lost wage checks for his/her own office expenses.
- A workers compensation attorney can be sued for legal malpractice when he or she failed to have the injured worker evaluated for permanent partial disability and time has run out to do so.
What is the value of a legal malpractice lawsuit against a workers compensation attorney?
The value of a legal malpractice lawsuit against a workers compensation attorney will vary greatly on a case by case basis. One consideration is the value of the workers compensation claim. A legal malpractice claim against a workers compensation attorney is valued based on the benefits the injured worker missed out on because of the attorney’s negligence and the right to sue workers compensation attorney s. ( A complete list of benefits an injured worker is entitled) Simply put- if the injured worker was not able to collect lost waged that amounted to $10,000 because of the negligence of the attorney then the value of the malpractice case is essentially worth $10,000. Another example is if the injured worker was not able to have a surgery that cost $25,000 because of the legal malpractice of the workers compensation attorney then the value would be $25,000. As with everything in the law, the value of the cases are not truly this simple to determine. There are methods of negotiating these claims that can increase the amount of settlement. One example is by posturing what other benefits the injured worker could have possibly been entitled to if the workers compensation attorney did not commit malpractice.
In the case of the missed out opportunity to have the $25,000 surgery paid for a legal malpractice attorney may leverage additional benefits that may have been due after the surgery which will increase the value of any action to sue workers compensation attorney s. The injured worker may be able to sue workers compensation attorney for malpractice and argue that the surgery would have cost $25,000, and the injured worker would likely have been out of work for 3 months so an addition amount of lost wages would have also been due. Legal malpractice claims are quite difficult to navigate because they require both knowledge of the subject area of law, such as workers compensation, but also require knowledge of negligence law and breach of duty owed to an attorney’s client by the attorney.
Call Maryland workers comp lawyer and personal injury attorney Andrew M. Rodabaugh for a FREE consultation! Call Us, Click to email or just fill out the form at the bottom of the page and Mr. Rodabaugh will contact you!
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