Law Suit Settlement

Who's Responsible for Unpaid Medical Bills After a Law Suit Settlement?

Hello I have hospital bills from back in 2002 for about $7,000 from a car accident I had. My Lawyer just closed the case in 2006 and we won the case.

Now those hospital bills are still in my credit report and collection agencies are still calling me.

My lawyer keeps saying she will work on it but to this date nothing has been done.

Now I am interested in buying a house. Would this affect my credit? Would that account be dropped or should I try to pay it?

Traci

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I assume you didn't have your own auto insurance. If you did it should have paid your bills.

So, if you won your lawsuit two years ago, what happened to the money? Part of your award was to cover these bills.

Did your lawyer withhold funds to do so? If she did and hasn't done so, get in touch with the Ethics Committee of your local bar association.

Most likely what happened is you got a check for your award minus fees and expenses. You didn't pay the bills and the debt is still hanging over you.

In that case you have to try to settle the debt one way or another. The fact that there was an auto accident or lawsuit does not relieve you of responsibility for these bills.

There is a possibility that the statute of limitations on debt collection has run. Ask your lawyer.

You will not be able to get a mortgage if these are appearing on your credit record as charge offs. The lender will force you to pay them and probably won't care that the statue of limitations has run, if that is the case.

So to answer your question, yes you will have to do something to satisfy this debt before you will get a mortgage.

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