CHENNAI: Court experience of road accident victims is turning out to be a bigger torment than the accident itself, as painfully realised by an 82-year-old retired teacher who came close to parting with about 50% of the compensation amount to her lawyers.
It is common knowledge that victims or their kin, who battle for nearly five years for first round win, have to pay anywhere between 10% and 30% to lawyers. Assuming a worker, aged under 30 years and with neither income proof nor filed income tax returns, gets killed in a road accident, his kin are likely to get a compensation of about 8 lakh. Dispute arises when the aggrieved family has to shell out a huge 'fees' at the end of the court ordeal.
"But, it is unfair to blame the lawyer alone," said a motor accidents case specialist, adding, "Policeman gets the case to the lawyer, government doctors perform surgery or autopsy and give relevant medical documents, insurance company counsel and executives incharge of filing counter expeditiously and help end the case early, and judicial officers enjoy significant discretionary powers to enhance compensation package. At every stage, in most cases, it is the lawyer who makes payments."
Ambulance-chasing advocates (comes from the stereotype of lawyers that follow ambulances to the emergency room to find clients) are passe. The nexus among these professionals is so strong, it is almost impossible not to pay anyone of these and get a fair compensation within a reasonable time, lawyers said.
Every traffic investigation wing police station has a 'resident agent' of a 'recognised' advocate who even makes payment in advance to police manning the station. "At present, the going rate is anywhere between 30,000 to 40,000, and these agents protest if an 'outside' advocate happens to enter the scene." Usually, policemen who take signatures of victim/kin at their moment of grief would sneak in the vakalatnama of the 'recognised' advocates and make them his clients without their own knowledge. "By the time they realise that they had 'engaged' the services of an X-lawyer, it is too late. We do not encourage people to cancel vakalatnama and change advocates," said a veteran of motor accident claims cases. Many victims' families accept money upto 50,000 from lawyers to meet immediate expenses. This too is added to the final commission deducted in percentage terms.
Government doctors too take about 15,000 per case and this amount is also usually paid by the lawyer, who even offers to treat the victim in a private hospital at his own cost. "All that we look for is his job and salary. If we are sure of a decent compensation, we do not mind paying for their treatment and other expenses," he said. With a lot of hesitation he also admitted that 'court expenses' is between 3% and 5% of the compensation package.
Unless the victims and their kin refuse to engage unfamiliar advocates to conduct their cases, they would be caught in a trap from which there is hardly an escape, the lawyer said.
MACT area is full of anecdotes, including the one which narrates how one registrar-general of the Madras high court chided a group of lawyers from Poonamallee for having protested 5% commission demanded by a judicial officer. "The RG said the rate had gone up to 10% and hence 5% demand was reasonable. He said we need not have wasted our time by coming to high court from Poonamallee," a lawyer said.
So what is the fair fee for an advocate? "I tell my clients to meet all expenses themselves, and make it clear my fee will be 10% of the compensation. They need not pay anything during trial, but should give me cash and take home the cheque," said a senior member of the Bar. Though cheques are given in the names of the claimants, it is 'usual' practice to detain it till cash is paid or the cheque is deposited in a new bank account opened with the help of the lawyer. "Once they leave court campus with cheque, there is no way we could get our 'investment' back," said a lawyer.
It is common knowledge that victims or their kin, who battle for nearly five years for first round win, have to pay anywhere between 10% and 30% to lawyers. Assuming a worker, aged under 30 years and with neither income proof nor filed income tax returns, gets killed in a road accident, his kin are likely to get a compensation of about 8 lakh. Dispute arises when the aggrieved family has to shell out a huge 'fees' at the end of the court ordeal.
"But, it is unfair to blame the lawyer alone," said a motor accidents case specialist, adding, "Policeman gets the case to the lawyer, government doctors perform surgery or autopsy and give relevant medical documents, insurance company counsel and executives incharge of filing counter expeditiously and help end the case early, and judicial officers enjoy significant discretionary powers to enhance compensation package. At every stage, in most cases, it is the lawyer who makes payments."
Ambulance-chasing advocates (comes from the stereotype of lawyers that follow ambulances to the emergency room to find clients) are passe. The nexus among these professionals is so strong, it is almost impossible not to pay anyone of these and get a fair compensation within a reasonable time, lawyers said.
Every traffic investigation wing police station has a 'resident agent' of a 'recognised' advocate who even makes payment in advance to police manning the station. "At present, the going rate is anywhere between 30,000 to 40,000, and these agents protest if an 'outside' advocate happens to enter the scene." Usually, policemen who take signatures of victim/kin at their moment of grief would sneak in the vakalatnama of the 'recognised' advocates and make them his clients without their own knowledge. "By the time they realise that they had 'engaged' the services of an X-lawyer, it is too late. We do not encourage people to cancel vakalatnama and change advocates," said a veteran of motor accident claims cases. Many victims' families accept money upto 50,000 from lawyers to meet immediate expenses. This too is added to the final commission deducted in percentage terms.
Government doctors too take about 15,000 per case and this amount is also usually paid by the lawyer, who even offers to treat the victim in a private hospital at his own cost. "All that we look for is his job and salary. If we are sure of a decent compensation, we do not mind paying for their treatment and other expenses," he said. With a lot of hesitation he also admitted that 'court expenses' is between 3% and 5% of the compensation package.
Unless the victims and their kin refuse to engage unfamiliar advocates to conduct their cases, they would be caught in a trap from which there is hardly an escape, the lawyer said.
MACT area is full of anecdotes, including the one which narrates how one registrar-general of the Madras high court chided a group of lawyers from Poonamallee for having protested 5% commission demanded by a judicial officer. "The RG said the rate had gone up to 10% and hence 5% demand was reasonable. He said we need not have wasted our time by coming to high court from Poonamallee," a lawyer said.
So what is the fair fee for an advocate? "I tell my clients to meet all expenses themselves, and make it clear my fee will be 10% of the compensation. They need not pay anything during trial, but should give me cash and take home the cheque," said a senior member of the Bar. Though cheques are given in the names of the claimants, it is 'usual' practice to detain it till cash is paid or the cheque is deposited in a new bank account opened with the help of the lawyer. "Once they leave court campus with cheque, there is no way we could get our 'investment' back," said a lawyer.
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