STANDARD INJURY
AT SEA
REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT
Thank you for choosing Injury at Sea to represent you on your maritime
claims. The purpose of this letter is to state the agreement you have
with our office.
We
agree to represent you on all matters directly related to your maritime
claim. This means we will be responsible for dealing with the insurance
representative or adjuster, your employer, the vessel owner, or anyone
else who may be involved. We ask that you not contact or discuss your
case with your former employer, vessel owner, or insurance representative,
as it is our job to take care of this for you. We will be responsible
for making sure that you are paid promptly, including maintenance, cure,
wages, settlement and anything else the company owes you.
There
is no charge for obtaining maintenance, cure and unearned wages.
As
long as you are represented by us, there is no attorney fee charge for
our obtaining your maintenance, cure, unearned wages or any bonus or percentage
due to you, unless legal expense is paid by a third party (not you) to
us, or unless you change attorneys. This is a contingency fee agreement;
the contingency fee does not apply to these payments. We will take care
of the “hassles” in getting the company to pay promptly what
you are due. Unless you tell us otherwise, these payments will be made
directly to you.
This is a contingency fee, and there is no charge if you do not recover.
We
will assist you, without charge, in obtaining proper medical treatment,
including selecting your own medical providers. Selecting your own doctor
and obtaining necessary medical and related treatment is an important
right.
We
will help you obtain proper medical treatment.
We
are paid on a percentage of the final cash settlement made to you for
personal injuries. Personal injuries cover pain, suffering, mental anguish,
partial disability, long-term disability, all loss of earnings, loss of
earnings capacity, and all other injuries or losses arising as a result
of your maritime injury. This payment is not made until the very end of
the work on your case, either by settlement or in court by trial and judgment.
Our fee is one-third the amount received if settled without filing suit
or forty percent of the amount received if suit has to be filed. Additional
or other legal counsel may assist us at trial, but there is no extra charge
to you for this.
We are not paid until the very end of your case.
Costs
necessary to pursue your case will be advanced and paid by us; costs are
paid back at the time of settlement. If there is no settlement, or for
some reason you do not recover, there is no fee for our services. Rarely
is a case resolved without our client obtaining full compensation for
all injuries.
We
will advance costs necessary to present your case.
You may call us anytime at (206) 524-4000 or 1-800-SEA-SALT, if calling from outside the Seattle area. We monitor our phone lines 24/7 and have an automatic paging system that pages the attorney on duty anytime a call comes in. We will always keep you informed of what is going on with your case, and you will regularly receive copies of letters we send to insurance adjusters, company representatives and others as we work on your case.
We
will always keep you informed of what’s going on with your case.
From
time to time, it may be necessary for us to candidly discuss our opinion
of the strengths and weaknesses of your case and any aspect of your case
with insurance claim agents, mediators, arbitrators, judges, or other
third parties. You give us your permission to do so. If we determine we
are unable to effectively represent you any longer, we may withdraw and
terminate our representation at that time, and permission is not first
required to do so; however, we will assist you in attempting to find another
attorney, if we can.
We
represent you on Jones Act, general maritime law, or any tort claim.
You
agree that all files and records belong to this office and may be destroyed
within one year following conclusion of our representation; we do not
maintain and/or keep any files and records beyond a one-year period, for
any purpose. Our agreement, unless stated to the contrary in writing,
is limited to representing you on Jones Act or general maritime law matters,
or injuries sustained which give rise to a tort claim of any sort.
You may terminate your agreement with us. We will help you find another attorney if we are not able to assist you.
You
may terminate this agreement by written notice signed by you and sent
to our Seattle office. Written notice of termination will be effective
15 days after receipt by us, but not before, and notice of our termination
to any other party, including a claims agent, adjuster, company representative,
or defendant’s attorney must be in writing, only, signed by both
you and us, to be effective
Our goal is aggressive representation to obtain the best settlement judgment we are able to achieve.
Thank
you for selecting Injury at Sea as your representative. Our goal is to
aggressively represent you and your claim, and to obtain the very best
settlement or judgment we are able to achieve for you.
[THIS AGREEMENT IS NOT
EFFECTIVE UNTIL SIGNED BY
BOTH PARTIES]
Read, reviewed, and approved:
___________________________
______________________________
Name:________________________
Address:______________________
______________________________
Phone:_________________________