In a personal injury case, a lien is money that the plaintiff owes to someone or some institution that has served as the source of money for covering some of the victim’s losses.
Who might have a lien against a claimant’s compensation, or against the court-ordered judgment for a plaintiff?
• A medical provider
• An insurance company
• A 3rd party
The lien’s function
A personal injury lawyer in Ottawa has an obligation to pay off the liens of any client that has won money as compensation, or as a court-ordered judgment. The attorney’s willingness to pay off the client’s liens protects any 3rd party from possible interference by the same attorney’s client.
Actions to be taken by lawyer, when paying off a client’s lien
Send letter to lien holder; acknowledge the lawyer’s obligation to pay off that same lien holder, when the client’s money has been sent to the lawyer’s office. Request an updated itemization of all the payments that the lien holder expects to receive.
Keep the lien holder updated, regarding the progress being made in the client’s case. Contact the lien holder before finalization of any settlement.
By maintaining close contact with any lien holders, personal injury lawyers could find it possible to convince the contacted person to reduce the size of the payments expected from the lawyer’s client. After all, the client’s hopes for a large compensation might have begun to dim, due to the size of the bids had been made by the insurance, during the negotiations.
Naturally, if the client were to be expecting a small compensation, then no lien holder would have reason to expect a large payment from the client’s attorney. Lawyers have learned how to issue a warning about the anticipated size of a client’s compensation package.
Smart lien holders admit to the message in that warning. That message cautions them against expecting a large payment. In fact, it often prepares them for the inevitable– delivery of a small payment. Still, that approach does not work with all lien holders. If a client were to owe money to Medicare or Medicaid, then those institutions would have to be paid. The government does not bargain with any lawyers.
For that reason, it might take a bit longer for a given attorney to complete the settlement for an older client. That could be a client that had enjoyed a forced life of seclusion. Hence, there would not be many places where the same client had been put at risk. A risk-free lifestyle does not offer a personal injury attorney the chance for creation of many potential accidents. In other words, it limits the number of ways by which an attorney’s skills could become a source of funds.
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