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Wednesday, May 07, 2003The bulk of the dollars the insurers pay out in malpractice cases is in the form of settlements, not verdicts. In 2002, the year insurance carriers in New Jersey lost only 54 cases, they settled 732. Jury awards, Leone explains, put floors under the amounts for which suits can be settled. If juries have tended to award plaintiffs $1 million for a certain injury, the insurer knows it can't expect to settle a similar case for much less. And the direction of verdicts and settlements, Leone claims, is up. In 1998, he says, Princeton's average payment to plaintiffs in malpractice cases against doctors was $235,000; in 2002 it was $343,000. The company's total payout to physician malpractice plaintiffs rose from $88 million in 1998 to $115 million in 2002. Not to mention the money they spend reaching those settlements. Speaking of Settlements: A while ago, when I posted a rant about lawyers seeking out injured clients, I got a barrage of email from lawyers who said this was not a common practice and that any lawyer who solicited clients would be disbarment material. Well, take a look at this story about people who make their living chasing down accident victims for lawyers: Big business. Ask attorney David Shurtz. Each year, he pays out at least $100,000 to runners for referrals. "Most of these people do not have anything beyond a high school diploma, and I know at least one of my investigators made $30,000 in a month," says Shurtz. (That's 50 cases at $600 apiece -- an extraordinary hustle.) Some of the runners are former clients. One was Shurtz's receptionist, who wised up, he says, when she realized she could make better money in fewer hours. "I'm not ashamed of it," Shurtz says. "It's ethical. And if my greatest sin is giving $100,000 back to guys with high school diplomas who are out there working hard bringing in cases, send me to the gallows." .....Personal injury cases can be sold to a lawyer for $300 to $600, sometimes more if the victim broke some bones or died. Not bad money. (They deal mostly in soft-tissue injury cases, which often get settled out of court, with the client netting a few thousand dollars.) Some runners say they can make $50,000-plus a year. Johnson estimates a runner can make up to $100,000. ...Some runners also offer money to potential clients to get cases. "If I can get all of you signed up today, I'm offering all of you $150 apiece, that's cash money in your pocket," says one of the Fuddruckers lunchers while making phone calls in her car. She's just come out of the 5th District station with a notebook of names and numbers, including this bonanza: a vehicle that had three people in it when it was hit. That's enough business to justify $450 from her pocket. "Solicit" must have a different meaning in legalese than it does in English. posted by Sydney on 5/07/2003 07:53:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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