Irene Gabo Esq. Interviewed on Davidzon Radio – October 14, 2019

Irene Gabo, Esq., was interviewed today on Davidzon Radio, with host Natasha Bistrytskaya. on channel 620 AM

Topics included questions & answers from individuals throughout the region regarding legal issues, as well as live callers.

Individuals with questions are encouraged to submit questions via email or Facebook to be answered on the show.

1. My mother passed away. She had a case with another attorney and now he refuses to help me unless I pay him money to do the estate. Do I have to pay him?

   It depends on the attorney. For example, if my client passed away, I don’t charge his children for the work that goes into setting up the representative in Court to represent the parent’s estate. I have been doing Surrogate Court work for close to 20 years and to me its, part of the service to my clients and their families. However, other firms chare for the work because it was not discussed in the retainer when the original client first retained the attorney. The retainer simply stated that attorney will be entitled to 1/3 when the case is over and the client to 2/3 minus expenses. But what happens when client dies? That retainer does not survive his death. An administrator must be appointed if the client dies without a will and Executor if client died with a will, and once the Courts appoints this person, a new retainer is then signed between this appointed person and the law firm. Extra work and time goes into drafting of the Surrogates Court papers and many attorneys not familiar with the process have to hire another attorney who is familiar with the work and charge the client’s family as a result.

2. What happens if I missed a medical exam with Geico, with their doctors? Would they not pay my bills?

   Geico is flexible with exam schedules and they utilize companies which do the schedulings for them. For example, if your attorney’s office calls to reschedule the exam, they will likely be able to do it two times and on the third appointment you will need to appear. Usually there is a two week delay between appointments. So for example if your appointment was for September 1, the attorney can likely get you to mid October so you can get additional treatment.

   But if you don’t show up and no one calls on your behalf its considered “a no show”. Geico allows one no show and will automatically send you a follow up appointment to attend, again in 2 weeks or so. If that appointment is missed, benefits will be denied, from the date of the first “no show”. The bills that would have accumulated In the meantime between the first no show and the second no show, will not be paid and Geico will not pay for any future treatment.

3. I own a house and am being sued by a woman who says she fell in front of my house? I don’t know who she is and why didn’t she just come and tell me she fell when it happened? What do I do?

   I strongly recommend that every homeowner has a video camera which faces the exterior of the premises. If you don’t have one, but your neighbor does, see if you can view the date the woman alleges to have fallen. I have represented once a homeowner who received similar notice an who had a video camera reviewed of a neighbor. Turned out the woman fell to the side of his house, near an empty parking lot, not in from of his home, but decided to bring an action against the homeowner. We denied the claim, showed the woman’s attorney the video and never heard from them again. Also, I also strongly recommend that you maintain and pay promptly for your homeowners insurance, even if the house is long paid in full. I presently have a situation where a family bought the property 50 years ago and paid the mortgage 30 years ago, and for the last several years did not have insurance. Well, the problem is someone is alleging to have fallen in front of the property, fractured an elbow and needed surgery. The house, which used to be worth 50k is now 700k and there was no insurance to cover the loss. By the way, your insurance carrier will provide you with an attorney to represent you in case you are being sued, free of charge. If you are not insured, I do represent defendants on an hourly basis, and you can call my office for a consultation.

4. I keep receiving forms called “Denial of Benefits” from the insurance company? Why would my bills be denied?

   This does not mean your bills are denied. Most likely the insurance company is sending you copies of every payment it makes for your treatment for your review. So for example, if you see that the doctor billed for September 1, but you were not there since August, the insurance company hopes you’ll notify them because the doctor is not billing properly. Denial of benefits is usually a proof of payment by the insurance company, but in the reduced amount, according with the fee schedule for no fault payments. Lets say the doctor billed $800 for the visit, but Geico’s fee schedule is $235 for this visit. They will pay the doctor $235 and deny the rest of the bill. This doesn’t mean you owe the $565 difference. The doctors who accept no fault insurance also accept the set fee schedule, so the doctor will not bill you the difference. The only time the Denial of Benefits may be permanent is when you went to see the insurance company doctor for an exam and he or she said that you no longer need treatment. In that case the letter will have the date when your bills will no longer be paid and its usually two weeks after your exam with the doctor.

5. I was in an accident in May and then again in July. Can I have two cases?

   Of course you can. The questions is whether the injuries sustained in both accident the same, similar or completely different. If you had a car accident in May and injured your shoulder, nothing will prevent you for bringing a lawsuit if you tripped and fell on the sidewalk in July and broke your ankle. Two separate unrelated accidents, two separated unrelated injuries. If you injured your shoulder in a car accident, defense counsel in the second case will have a hard time arguing that it somehow led you to fall on the sidewalk and break your ankle.

   However, if you were in a car accident in May and injured your neck and back and then again in July and injured the neck and back again this becomes more difficult. Obviously the MRIs will show if the discs injured in May are the same discs hurt in July. But if there are the same, the second case will be difficult to pursue because you had the same injuries in May. Insurance company on the second case will claim that there are no new injuries, and may deny your claim. You can still get treatment, but may have a hard time suing for pain and suffering