If a case is settled, a few things happen. First, we need to make sure that there are not any other avenues of recovery we can go after, such as another insurance policy you or your company have that would cover your injuries. Once all avenues of recovery for your damages are exhausted, we can move on to step two. Next, we must make sure to pay back the outstanding medical bills you owe, any subrogation with health insurance or workers compensation, and any government liens such as Medicare or Medicaid. Most times, we attempt to reduce these amounts. Finally, the last step is a settlement disbursement. When we receive the check from the other insurance company, we deposit it into my law firm’s IOLTA account, which is a trust account that the State of Texas requires us to deposit all client funds into. Then, once that check clears and the disbursements are ready to be made, we will write checks accordingly. From the IOLTA trust account, we pay off the medical bills, subrogation liens, and/or government liens, if there are any. We also write checks to my firm for our attorneys’ fees and case expense reimbursement, which is per our agreement. Then, we write the remainder of the total funds to you.
Of course, there are exceptions to this general step-by-step explanation for how a post-settlement process goes, but this is just an example. As we always do at The Button Law Firm, we fully explain these steps along the way. If possible, we work ahead so that these final steps can take place as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, some of these timeframes are out of our control and can take a while. We have had necessary lien reductions take over a year on a case. Again, that is rare, but it can happen.
If you need any help understanding the process or learning more about how personal injury and wrongful cases are handled in the Dallas, Midland or Houston Texas area, you can reach out to us or order my FREE book called The Essential Guide For Your Texas Injury Case. It will help inform you and guide you through the process.
