Bellport, NY Personal Injury Law Firms & Lawyers | Page 2 Results

It is not unusual. There are a number of reasons an attorney might do this. The most common reason might be that you have a health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, or doctor's lien against the proceeds of your settlement. The attorney must pay these entities out of the proceeds before the attorney can disburse the money to the client. When this is the case, the attorney may not know the exact amount owed to these entities because they have not went a final statement. Sometimes even if the attorney has final documentation of the amount, especially were the attorney hopes to get them to reduce the lien. Even if the attorney has final documentation as to the amount of the lien, the attorney may hold back some settlement proceeds until he has obtained a written acknowledgement from these entities that their lien is satisfied. Often, I disburse proceeds in to steps. Where I have liens such as those described above, I disburse some to the client, but hold back enough that I know will more than satisfy the liens, then disburse the rest once the liens are satisfied with finality.

A property owner can be held liable for known hazards that could foreseeably result in injury. In order to make a claim against the property owner of a house or apartments the injured party has to show that the owner knew or should have known of the hazard, had an opportunity to correct it, and failed to take action. So, you would have to prove that the owner of the property knew or should have known that the railing on the balcony was likely to fail, and that he had an opportunity to fix it and that he did not do so.

If you weren't injured then your damages may be limited to the cost of the food product that you had to throw out. Highly doubtful than any attorney would take on your case under such circumstances.