Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
spouse (x-wife) got my p.i. settlement
it has come to my attention that while i was still in the hospital (back in 1991) recovering from 3 brain surgeries and freshly out of a 2 month coma, my wife came to me with an attorney telling me that in order to proceed with any civil action against the people responsible for my injury i must sign over a governing document similar to power of attorney (while i was still in the hospital and declared mentally incompetent), except this one is untraceable. it is now quite obvious to me with the bits and pieces of what i have that there was an out of court settlement for my injury before it ever went to trial. the necessary court documents have all been pulled but i managed to see them once to find there was a 3.4 million dollar settle for my case. i am now divorced for almost 2 years my spends money like she has an unlimited supply of the green. i want what is mine! all the important paperwork has now been pulled and i can't get an attorney involve unless i have absolute that the money exists. what do i do? how do i do it ? where ?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: spouse (x-wife) got my p.i. settlement
The facts you describe are a bit hard to believe, but such things do happen. What do you mean when you say that "the necessary court documents have all been pulled"? Are you saying someone tampered with court files? Where did you see that there was a $3.4 million dollar settlement? Do you know who the attorney was that handled the case?
If your wife really received a multi-million dollar payment, it is unlikely that the IRS would have been unaware. Your taxes would probably have been audited if your wife hadn't listed the payment. Did you file jointly that year?
You also say you had been declared mentally incompetent, but you don't say by whom. Was there a court determination? If so, why was this done? (Courts don't just stick their noses in every time someone goes into a coma; someone has to seek such an order.)
If there really has been a fraud of the type you describe, your statute of limitations began to run as soon as you either learned of the fraud or should have learned of it. When did you first become aware of these facts?
As I said, the facts you relate are a bit hard to believe without some supporting evidence. What evidence do you have?
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