Lawyers said settlement placed in a trust but no information given

[AuntyM]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL

My sister and her husband received a settlement in a medical malpractice suit almost 2 years ago. They were given the runaround from their attorney's as to when the funds would be released to them. To make a very long story short, the government was investigating the firm and part of the firm's deal with the government was that they paid their clients the money they were due within 90 days. Two weeks ago the lawyer and someone else called my sister & her husband stating they were starting the payouts that week and they were slated to get their settlement Tuesday (2 weeks ago). There has been no word in 2 weeks. None of their calls are returned from the lawyers. They do not know where or how to find out where their money is. They were only told that it was in a trust with everyone else's that the firm owed settlements to at a federal bank.

They hesitate to talk to another attorney due to the very bad experience they had with the current firm and they are afraid that getting another attorney involved will cause it to go on even longer. For over a year, going on 2 years, they have been told they were getting the settlement "any day". This is the final straw as they are now homeless and do not know what to do or where to start to get the money they were awarded in the settlement.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL

My sister and her husband received a settlement in a medical malpractice suit almost 2 years ago. They were given the runaround from their attorney's as to when the funds would be released to them. To make a very long story short, the government was investigating the firm and part of the firm's deal with the government was that they paid their clients the money they were due within 90 days. Two weeks ago the lawyer and someone else called my sister & her husband stating they were starting the payouts that week and they were slated to get their settlement Tuesday (2 weeks ago). There has been no word in 2 weeks. None of their calls are returned from the lawyers. They do not know where or how to find out where their money is. They were only told that it was in a trust with everyone else's that the firm owed settlements to at a federal bank.

They hesitate to talk to another attorney due to the very bad experience they had with the current firm and they are afraid that getting another attorney involved will cause it to go on even longer. For over a year, going on 2 years, they have been told they were getting the settlement "any day". This is the final straw as they are now homeless and do not know what to do or where to start to get the money they were awarded in the settlement.

If your sister and her husband are homeless, perhaps information has been sent to the former address the law firm had on file and any letters sent to them regarding the settlement were returned to sender as undeliverable?

They might wish to contact a legal aid organization in their area. By not seeking legal assistance before now, in getting the matter resolved, they have probably delayed unnecessarily any payout of settlement money owed them.

If they are living in a homeless shelter, the shelter workers can direct them to resources in their area. Here is a link you might find helpful: http://www.illinoislegalaidonline.org/

 

[AuntyM]

The attorney's office is 5 hours away as they had to move to be closer to family for a place to stay but their mail comes to my house and there has been none. They have been staying with various relatives, "couch surfering", if you will. The money has already been released to the attorney's but they were holding onto it, which is why they were under investigation from the government. My sister and her husband were not the only people affected. There were at least 12 other clients who were having the same problem of getting their money paid to them from this firm. Now, the attorney's have told them the funds were put into a trust to be paid out to the all the clients they owed money to but my sister and her husband do not know who to contact to see what the status is or to even track their money. Again, the attorney's will not return their calls and before this the attorney's were calling them at least 5 times a week. We are just trying to see if thee is a way to find out where their money is being held and why it is taking so long.

 

[quincy]

An attorney must promptly notify his client when money or property designated for the client has been received. It appears your sister received this notice.

If you don't think that your sister missed a certified (return receipt requested) letter sent to her last home address, and there are no liens that may have been placed on the settlement funds for outstanding medical bills or whatever (which can hold up disbursement of the funds), and this is not a worker's compensation case that requires a judge to sign off on the settlement prior to disbursement (which could delay the disbursement), or any one of a number of possibilities that could explain a legitimate delay in disbursement, your sister could travel to see her attorney in person, if she continues to have difficulty reaching her attorney by phone, or she may wish to contact the Illinois State Bar Association.

When holding funds belonging to a client, an attorney must keep these funds separate from his own. While sometimes this can mean separate bank accounts clearly identified for each client, an attorney can also pool all client funds in a trust account. It sounds like it might be this latter type of account the attorney has set up for your sister and the 12 or so other clients.

If this is the case, the Illinois State Bar Association should have received notice of this account from the attorney after the account was opened. Contacting the State Bar, therefore, might be a way to track down the settlement funds not yet disbursed. Here is a link to the Illinois Bar that you may find helpful: http://www.isba.org/public/faqs

If you or a family member can assist with the costs of another attorney for your sister, that would probably be best, if only for a brief consultation.