A few months ago, I wrote about the ethics involved in settling attorney’s fees with Claimant attorneys. There is a lot of pressure to close cases, and sometimes a Claimant attorney will want to carve up a settlement to include a large side fee for benefits that were not obtained.
In Lanza v. Damien Carpentry, I noted the First DCA is going to give the Judges of Compensation Claims latitude to determine whether Carrier paid fees are warranted. In Lanza, the E/C refused to divide up the settlement so that Claimant attorney would receive a fee above the statutory guidelines for unobtained benefits. Claimant attorney tried to back out of the settlement, but the JCC and the First DCA enforced the agreement. At the time, I wrote: (more…)