wise-beaver-9955/10/2026

Fired my attorney for going ghost — now they want their full cut after secretly settling my case??

I need to vent and also genuinely don't know what my options are here, so hoping someone has been through something similar.

My husband was rear-ended pretty badly a few months back. We hired a personal injury attorney early on — seemed reputable, had decent reviews. Things started fine, a little paperwork, a few calls. Then just… silence. Like three weeks of nothing. Voicemails, emails, texts — zero response from anyone at that office. We had no idea where the case stood, hadn't even been told what the at-fault driver's coverage looked like.

We decided we couldn't just sit there, so we found a new attorney and formally let the first one go. Felt like the right call.

Here's where it gets infuriating: we find out — weeks later, not from them — that the first attorney had already reached a settlement with the insurance company. Before we even fired them. Never told us. We found out through our new attorney when they started digging.

The settlement amount is pretty low — basically policy limits, which aren't much. The money is still sitting with the insurance company waiting for us to sign off, but now the first firm is asserting a lien for their full contingency fee. Full fee. For dropping the ball so hard they apparently had internal staffing issues around the same time (we pieced this together later).

Our second attorney stepped away too since there's not enough left to make the case workable after the lien.

So now we're kind of stuck — negotiating with a firm that won't budge, on a settlement we never agreed to, for an amount that barely covers anything.

Has anyone dealt with a situation where you fired an attorney and they still tried to claim a full fee? Is there any recourse when a firm settles without your knowledge? Any advice appreciated — even just knowing we're not alone would help.

9 replies

Most helpful first

curious-seal-9565/10/2026
Oh my god this is almost exactly what happened to a friend of mine. The firm went quiet, she fired them, and then found out they'd already been talking to the insurance company without looping her in at all. She ended up filing a bar complaint — not sure it went anywhere but it at least felt like doing something. I'm so sorry you're dealing with this on top of everything else your husband is going through physically.
- genuine-wren-7115/10/2026
  Not legal advice, but this situation raises some serious flags. An attorney settling a case without the client's informed consent is generally a major ethics violation — clients have the right to make final decisions on settlement. The fee lien question is separate, but how much they're owed may depend on what work was actually performed and whether their conduct contributed to a breakdown in the relationship. Document everything — every unanswered message with timestamps. That record matters.
- curious-seal-5085/10/2026
  From my time on the inside, I can tell you that the insurance company just wants this resolved and off their books — they don't particularly care which attorney gets the fee, they just want someone to release the funds. The hold-up is entirely on the attorney lien side. Some firms count on claimants not having the energy to fight the fee dispute and just taking whatever's left. Don't let exhaustion make that decision for you.
mellow-swift-9685/10/2026
I'd also be asking hard questions about the settlement amount itself. Policy limits being low is one thing, but did anyone actually push back or was it just accepted fast because it was easy? Quick settlements often benefit everyone except the injured person. Just something to think about as you sort through all this.
swift-hare-5125/10/2026
The fee lien amount might actually be negotiable even if the firm says it isn't. Most retainer agreements say something like 'reasonable fees for work performed' when a client terminates — and 'reasonable' is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. If the case resolved in under a month and communication was nonexistent, there's an argument the actual hours were minimal. You could request an itemized accounting of what work they claim to have done. They're not required to give you a full bill in every state, but asking puts them on notice that you're not just rolling over.
calm-marmot-0815/10/2026
Please make sure your husband's medical documentation is completely in order regardless of how the legal stuff shakes out. If treatment is ongoing, keep every record, every bill, every referral. Sometimes when cases settle for low amounts the medical side gets squeezed hardest, and having a complete paper trail matters if you ever need to dispute a bill or negotiate with a provider directly.
quiet-wren-7205/10/2026
File a bar complaint. Seriously, just do it. I know it feels like a lot but settling without your consent and then going dark are both legitimate grievance issues. It also sometimes has the magical effect of making firms suddenly more willing to negotiate their fee. They don't love having open bar complaints sitting there.
brave-otter-2875/10/2026
This sounds absolutely exhausting and I'm really sorry. You're already dealing with your husband's recovery and now you're basically having to fight your own lawyer. That's so unfair. I hope you find a path through this — it sounds like you've already been handling it really thoughtfully even when everyone around you dropped the ball.
brave-raven-9415/10/2026
Quick question — when you fired the first attorney, did you do it in writing and explicitly revoke their authority to settle? I ask because the timeline matters a lot here. If the settlement technically happened before the termination letter, the legal picture is murkier. Not saying you did anything wrong, just that the sequence of events could affect your options.