As I reported in May, I hadn’t heard from the personal injury lawyers who presumably had settled my broken foot case\u00a0\u2014 although I had signed the settlement agreement in very early November, 2011.<\/p>\n
Thus, I haven’t gotten my settlement money.<\/p>\n
So on May 10, 2012, I sent my Client Request for Fee Arbitration form, along with a check, to the New York County Lawyers Association, the bar association which administers fee dispute arbitration in my district. (The association’s building in lower Manhattan is a Cass Gilbert-designed landmark with a neat history. Take a look at this <\/a>and do scroll down to the incident of the madcap rhesus monkey chase.)<\/p>\n My check for the small filing fee was cashed but I haven’t yet heard from them. The ethics lawyer I spoke to warned me that arbitration takes time. Today, though, when I read through the New York State Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program booklet \u2014 which I’d printed out from the court website<\/a>, I learned that, under the sub-heading, I filed a request for fee arbitration. What happens now?<\/strong>…<\/p>\n Upon receiving your Request for Arbitration, the local program administrator will forward it to the attorney, who then has 15 days to complete an Attorney Response form (UCS 137-5a) and return it to the local program, with a copy to you.<\/em><\/p>\n As far as I know, this hasn’t happened: I haven’t received any attorney response form and we’re well beyond 15 days. And at the least shouldn’t my filing be acknowledged? So I called the central number for the NYS fee dispute program: 1-877-333-7137, and was given the direct number for the New York County Lawyers Association arbitration program: 212-267-6646, ext 236.<\/p>\n I called, got a recording, and left a message. What happens next? I’ll keep you informed of my progress toward getting a settlement check.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I reported in May, I hadn’t heard from the personal injury lawyers who presumably had settled my broken foot case\u00a0\u2014 although I had signed the settlement agreement in very early November, 2011. Thus, I haven’t gotten my settlement money. … Continue reading