ATTEMPT for Representation #1
We looked online for lawyers who had experience in Nursing Home negligence cases and wrongful deaths to locate one here in South Mississippi. To his credit, he was at least honest with me. He was a small firm and did not have money to pay the professionals who would have to testify and while he would represent us, we would have to foot the bill for those and that it would be costly. He also was not familiar with a Hoyer lift ???????? Big red flag. So, after a lengthy phone conversation, his name was placed in file 13. So now what?
Attempt for Representation #2
Sometimes I am not sure what details I can give and what I have to keep private, but I will say this: We did find a very LARGE group that had someone meet with us downtown in Mobile and he was a part of that firm that is "_____ & _____for the people". You've probably seen their billboards...in more than one state for sure. So when we were given an appointment, we gathered what paperwork we thought we needed and had, to be honest with you, what we thought was a very good meeting. They were a large firm and had the funds to pay for all those "expert" witnesses and would do a thorough investigation themselves and get back to us. This began in the fall of 2017. After preliminary investigation we signed a contract with them (No one does this really for free) which spelled out the percentage they would take from any settlement. We, of course, would not have to pay anything out of pocket. These firms work toward settlements whether in court or out that give them almost 50% of the money. But what can you do about that...right? This rocked on with a few phone calls (mostly if not all initiated by me) where the "investigator" said all the things a family could want to hear and that there was definitely a "case" to be had. The only trouble with that in our situation was:
- the firm's investigator is NOT the lawyer and he/she is very good at leading you to believe your case is receiving TOP priority
- They are sometimes IMPOSSIBLE to get in touch with
- In a big firm such as this first one, they have lawyers who are licensed to practice in your state and you do not get to speak to them for quite some time...at least in my case. In fact they "assign" a lawyer to you. THAT really means a bunch of nothing. You have a name. Big deal. They don't communicate much.
- Almost ONE year later, I received a snail mail LETTER telling me that (even though they had said they'd take the case, and had encouraged me with hope, and I had signed their contract) he could not represent me "But that was not saying the case was not without merit and I should continue to find representation before the 2 yr limitation was up."
- All this leaves you with your hopes for a fair hearing/trial/accountability dashed into the ground.
My suspicions are that when they finally got around to looking at the logistics of our case, they saw there would not be the mega dollars involved as there is in those big lawsuit cases where a huge corporation is charged or where (especially) there is faulty equipment, etc. where they can sue large corporations, The advertisement could have been "______&______ for ___ people as long as we get a huge sum of money" Law Firm. (But if there's only a small recovery amount possible, we don't have time for the people.)
ATTEMPT for Representation #3/#4
My husband at this point continued the search for another firm (licensed to practice in our state) to take the case, found one and we went through much of the same drill. Hopes lifted only to be a little cut down months later when our newly representing lawyer said it would be better to refer us to yet another lawyer that was practicing in our state. He was leaving his position in the firm and very sorry...yada, yada, yada. BUT he did recommend us to a small but capable law firm dealing with these types of cases in our state. I was, if you can imagine, now a wee bit wary of any promises of getting this done. However, they proved not only to be capable, but personable and quite knowledgeable of the case. It also seems that they found things in the paper work that worked in our favor...things that I believe the others had not uncovered. For example, I learned that the previous lawyers uncovered an arbitration clause that was in the admitting paperwork (which most likely is what caused them to shy away from the case) but unlike the previous lawyers, found the paperwork signed on the wrong date...before the nursing home documented receipt of my power of attorney. (Which made my signature on ALL their paperwork null and void) I can only comment that to have been the divine hand of God, for if they had received/documented my power of attorney first, everything would have been resolved by an arbitrator and would have limited any claims considerably. So the end of this attempt DID result in a fair and appropriate representation on behalf of my Mom and matters came to closure.
