Quick settlement question???

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

I'm expecting a settlement soon in my claim from the at fault's insurance company. My question is am I legally obligated to pay the bill my chiropractor hit me with??? I never saw his totals until right before the claim went into negotiation status and his totals were ridiculously high. I went 26 times for a total of $5360 ( about $205 per session ). The average chiro bill seems to be about $75 per session and he was also the "preferred" chiro from my lawyer. Seems to me an "in-network" chiropractor's fees would be lower than the norm, not higher like this.

Yes, you have to pay your bills.

Check your state statutes but I suspect the chiropractor has a lien on the settlement whether it is quick or slow.

YES you need to pay your bill!

You should total up all of your med bills (and maybe add 1/3 for lawers cut),
then deduct that figure plus the lawyers fees from and settlement offer and realize that that is what you are settling for.

So if you have $10K in Med bills and your lawyer wants to settle for $25K:
10K for Med + 3.34K + 13.34K
25K - 13.34K = 11.66K
11.66K - 1/3 = $7,780 for you
Your lawyer gets 3.34K + 3.89K = $7,230

So, after Med bills, your lawyer takes 48%, and you take 52%.

Of course it all depends on how you negotiated on legal fees, and whether your lawyer is willing to negotiate the Med bills before settlement.

Or I could be wrong.

The math doesn't sound right. InsaneJane's post first looks like the lawyer is getting double paid, but after working out the numbers the lawyer gets paid more with this scenario. ($7,230 vs. $8,340) See where you add the medical and the third of the medical? Why does the lawyer get that third? The lawyer should be getting only a third of the total of what is collected (of course the third could be collected before or after expenses it depends on OP's contract with the lawyer). Here's what I see:

Theoretically:
$10K medical
Ins co. settles for $25K. Medical is not negotiated down in this theory. In real life, of course you can ask for negotiation but for purposes of my math, it's not.

pay attorney $8.34K for his 1/3
pay medical $10K
net $25K minus $18.34K = $6.66K for OP.

It looks like OP gets less on my formula but what I remember in dealings with my lawyer this is how they did it.

I could be wrong. If so, I'm sorry. I'm trying.

Don't just assign 1/3 to the lawyer without understanding his agreement with the attorney. The lawyer may take money off the top before his 1/3 to pay for expenses. In some case this will result in the attorney getting paid more than the client.

Also, I would put some pointed questions to the attorney about the chiroprator. Since hs steered you to one that charged 3 times the going rate, I wonder if the lawyer has some kind of financial arrangement with him.

But ultimately it is your responsibility to ask the doctor what his rates are. If you wait until the bill arrives, then you have already accepted the treatment.