What’s in a reputation? 1000’s of {dollars}, a misplaced job, denied insurance coverage protection and the opportunity of a suspended regulation license for a Mississippi employees’ compensation legal professional, apparently.
All of it has to do with injured employees – each named Dorothy Anderson. One lives in Greenwood, Mississippi; the opposite in Hattiesburg. No less than one was a consumer of legal professional Jay Foster of Ocean Springs on the Mississippi coast.
Foster is accused of blending up the 2 ladies and settling an damage declare on behalf of the Greenwood Dorothy, when the declare truly got here from, and the settlement cash mistakenly went to, the Hattiesburg Dorothy, based on courtroom information. As an alternative of admitting his mistake, although, Foster allegedly supplied false data to his skilled legal responsibility insurance coverage provider and to others, then filed fees towards one of many ladies, claiming she was an “imposter,” lawsuits contend.
The alleged actions and reactions have created a world of bother for all events concerned, courtroom paperwork contend.
Lawyer Protecting Insurance coverage Co., underwritten by Nationwide Legal responsibility & Fireplace Insurance coverage, a Berkshire Hathaway agency, this week filed swimsuit in federal courtroom, asking a choose to declare that it has no responsibility to defend or indemnify Foster and his agency in claims made by each Dorothys. The insurer’s lawyer referred to as it “a unprecedented case.”
“You’ve got represented to AttPro that you simply didn’t symbolize Hattiesburg Dorothy and that you simply did symbolize Greenwood Dorothy,” an legal professional for Lawyer Protecting wrote to Foster in an Aug. 12 letter filed with the U.S. District Court docket for South Mississippi.
However paperwork and the “restricted data” Foster supplied all contradict Foster’s place, the insurer famous.
AttPro has repeatedly requested Foster to offer his agency’s full file on each Dorothies’ claims however he has refused, legal professional Rusty Comley wrote.
“Sadly, contemplating the proof and your lack of cooperation in AttPro’s investigation, AttPro has no selection however to conclude that it is vitally seemingly that you simply repeatedly made materials misrepresentations concerning Hattiesburg Dorothy’s and Greenwood Dorothy’s claims towards you,” Comley’s letter contends.
AttPro mentioned it has no strategy to refute the claims and is denying Foster’s skilled legal responsibility protection. The provider agreed to offer a protection below a reservation of rights, which means that Foster could also be requested to reimburse the insurance coverage firm’s legal professional charges when the case is concluded.
Foster couldn’t be reached Thursday by Insurance coverage Journal. He has not but filed a solution to the AttPro swimsuit.
The allegations have made their strategy to the Mississippi Bar Affiliation. The Bar notified Foster in March that it had acquired a proper grievance about him and would proceed with an investigation. A spokesman for the Bar on Thursday declined to touch upon the standing of the investigation besides to say that as of this week, Foster’s regulation license stays in good standing. He has been a member of the Bar since 1994.
The obvious title confusion and Foster’s actions have additionally prompted difficulties for the 2 Dorothys, courtroom information keep. All of it started in late 2022, when Greenwood Dorothy returned to work at a Mississippi Delta fish-processing firm, referred to as America’s Catch. She had labored there for 27 years, had suffered a couple of work accidents via the years, had represented herself and had acquired employees’ comp advantages and break day, her lawsuit towards Foster explains.
After her newest surgical procedure, she was advised that her comp declare had been settled for $25,000 by her lawyer, Jay Foster. And, as a part of the settlement, she had agreed to cease working on the fish plant.
She was flabbergasted and mentioned she had by no means agreed to any settlement and was not represented by Foster. Her lawsuit contends that Foster had mistakenly supplied the settlement funds to the unsuitable Dororthy Anderson, minus his agency’s payment, with out bothering to confirm something.
Foster later tried to speak Greenwood Dorothy into accepting the settlement, regardless that her medical prices have been a lot better than the settlement quantity, her swimsuit fees.
“Had legal professional Foster carried out a cursory evaluate of the medical information, he would have realized that the worth of the plaintiff’s claims clearly exceeded the quantity which he tried to pressure Ms. Anderson to just accept,” reads the Greenwood girl’s lawsuit, filed in June.
Now at odds along with her employer, Greenwood Dorothy “didn’t really feel welcome” by America’s Catch and finally give up the job. She has been unable to search out employment since, her attorneys mentioned within the swimsuit.
Six months earlier, Hattiesburg Dorothy had filed her personal lawsuit towards Foster.
Her legal professionals, Ronald Johnson and Corey Gibson, wrote that they have to “alert the Court docket to the weird, convoluted and sophisticated nature of this case and can try to current the info in probably the most simple means doable.”
For Hattiesburg Dorothy, the difficulty started a couple of years earlier, in 2019 when she contacted Foster to symbolize her in a employees’ comp declare. Foster had labored along with her on a earlier declare, the swimsuit mentioned. She labored at a nursing dwelling in Hattiesburg the place she had injured her shoulder lifting moist linens. She later reinjured the shoulder and signed an settlement with the Foster agency to symbolize her comp declare.
In November 2022, Foster reportedly notified Hattiesburg Dorothy that he had obtained a settlement and he or she would wish to come back to his workplace to signal paperwork and settle for the test. She did that, deposited the test, then spent a lot of the cash, the courtroom paperwork contend.
A day or two later, Foster apparently realized the horrible mistake he had made.
All alongside, he had by some means confused the 2 ladies and wrongly advised the Mississippi Staff’ Compensation Fee that he had represented the Greenwood girl. The settlement test was supposed for the Greenwood Dorothy, regardless that she knew nothing about it, the lawsuit mentioned.
To make issues worse, Foster had didn’t take any motion on the Hattiesburg consumer’s declare, permitting the declare submitting deadline and statute of limitations to go, the grievance notes.
At this level, Foster accused the Hattiesburg Dorothy of committing fraud by accepting the test, and he requested her to return the cash. When she mentioned she had spent it, Foster and his spouse, Sheila, who additionally labored on the regulation agency, went to the Ocean Springs Police and pressed fees.
Dorothy J. Anderson of Hattiesburg was indicted, arrested and jailed.
Finally, a number of the info got here to mild and native prosecutors dropped the case towards the girl. She then filed swimsuit towards the Fosters and the regulation agency, looking for compensatory, bad-faith and punitive damages.
The AttPro/Nationwide Legal responsibility request for declaratory judgment can be seen here.
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