On October 1997 my husband was injured at work. We contacted workman comp attorney Mr. Austin for advice. He then told us we had a case and to come on in. From the minute we met this man he told us, we know now, nothing but lies.
We knew nothing about the legal system at the time, so we totally trusted this man. We proceeded with legal action againist my husbands former employer. We thought it was going as planned and then out of the blue Mr. Austin stopped taking our phone calls, after he recieved the small amount he had gotten from the employer for short term disablity (he insisted later after he recieved money that all money awarded go to him for fees). We found out later the money should have went to my husband and the attorney had no rights to it at all.
We finally got a hold of him and he told us that he would not be able to proceed with the case because it was going to be to hard to take legal action against this employer, but he would do everything he could. See my husbands ex-employer had no workmans comp insurance on his employees. Mr. Austin told us there was nothing we could do according to the law, we could'nt even sue the employer personally.
Again we totally trusted this man, and knew nothing about the law. He strung us along for 5 years, telling us he was going to do everything he could to help because he felt bad about the whole situation. When I tried to contact him he would never respond again. We finally contacted another attorney and was informed that we could have sued the employer under the workmans comp law, but the statue had ran out and we could not do anything about the situation againist the employer or the attorney for malpractice.
Now I ask you does this sound shady or not? We had to file bankrupy againist the medical bills that my husband obtained while recovering from his injury. And the attorney has picked up shop and moved. I will never trust another attorney again and have decided that if we are ever in a situation like this again we will represent ourselves.
Thanks for letting me vent, it felt good to get it out there. And remember if you need legal advice do not go to Paul Thomas Austin formally of Marion Illinois.
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