Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia
Personal Injury Collection Effort
Situation: Patient signs a doctor's lien on settlement, verdict, ,judgment, etc and signs an assignment of benefits for Med-pay insurance to cover personal injury related injuries. The patient's attorney also signs the aggreements. However, the patient's attorney only sent the Medpay insurance which did not cover the patient's balance. The patient's attorney refused to respond to our certified mail, fax, and phone requests for payment from the settlement. Bills to the patient for the outstanding balance have been ignored.
Question: Can we file suit against the attorney for the outstanding balance since he refused to withhold the necessary funds to cover the bill? Is it unethical to refuse payment of an un- disputed bill without a signed permission from the patient to do so? What are my options?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Medical liens on PI settlements
Can you sue the lawyer as well as the patient?Yes. If the lawyer agreed to pay, s/he is contractually obligated to pay (provided therewas a settlement). If the lawyer did not sign,you have no grounds to sue the lawyer exceptfor the first $500 of the bill for Virginia'sstatutory lien.
Is it unethical for the lawyer not to pay? Yes. The Va. bar has issued several ethics opinions so holding.
Your options are to sue the patient and the lawyer and to file a bar complaint.
We represent health care providers in Va. oncollections matters. Please feel free to callme if you have further questions or want to discuss this matter further.
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