"Common Fund" Rule- Atty's % due at settlemt

[LynnRiley]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? south carolina

Hi! First of all, 3rd party charged at fault for accident. I do have an attorney who will be paid 1/3 of my settlement. We agreed upon this by signing atty/client agreement in June 2005 while I was still in hospital.

About 3 weeks later in July '05, my health insurance co. sent out the subrogation/right to be reimbursed by 3rd party settlement. My health insurance requests the atty to protect their rights in the 3rd party paid settlement- and with both the attorney and my signatures, they agree to reduce their lein amount against my settlement (for medical bills paid by them) by 1/4 if settled out of court or 1/3 if case goes to court.

Well, now and 3 months later, I understand it better, and I want my insurance co to reduce their lein amount by 1/3 (which is what my attorney gets regardless of settlement out of court or lawsuit filed)

My question is regarding the "common fund" rule I read on this site. Must my health insurance company reduce their expected reimbursement (lein filed against my settlement) by 1/3 (instead of 1/4) since that is what my attorney is charging? I have not asked my atty this- I don't want to offend him. (if the my insurance doesn't increase discount to 1/3, then I would like for atty to decrease the med bill portion of settlement from 1/3 to 1/4) What is the prevailing rule for this?
Thanks!
Lynn

[DGO1223]

Interesting question.

My DH was recently in an accident, and the hospital would NOT even file our insurance, which would have paid them; they want the whole bill paid in full upon settlement. So we'll be out 100% on that bill, which is a lot more had our insurance paid, then we could have paid our health insurance back.

Lawyer's office says this hospital will NOT even lower the bill upon settlement. They want (and will get) ALL of it. This hospital is notorious in our area for it's ungodly rates. AND, to top it off, it is SUPPOSED to be a non-profit facility. What a joke.

In other words, we would be happy to pay our insurance 100% of what they paid!

I know you didn't ask for that information, I guess I'm just blowing off steam!

I have found out more than I want to know lately concerning accidents, insurance, medical bills, and legalese than I ever wanted to know.

Good luck in your case.