Personal Injury Law

One of Conrad's Former Clients Allowed to Move Forward with Personal Injury Claim

By Ben Glass

Many people in Virginia have heard of the notorious Stephen Conrad, an attorney accused of pocketing millions of dollars from clients' settlements. While Conrad has been in federal prison serving his 11-year sentence, some of his former clients have attempted to re-open their claims. However, judges continued to reject these efforts until recently.

A Prince William County judge has allowed a plaintiff's personal injury case to move forward despite that the insurance companies already paid a total of $80,000 to Conrad. In the recent case, Andrews v. Andrews, Circuit Judge William D. Hamblen rejected the defense that Conrad had 'apparent authority' to negotiate for his clients. He ruled that the client never took any action other than the initial engagement with Conrad. This is the first case that has been allowed to move forward.

Conrad went to jail because he was allegedly settling cases without telling his clients and stealing their money. He was accused of stealing nearly $4 million in settlements from over 250 clients. Conrad was disbarred in 2007 and pleaded guilty to fraud in 2008. A lot of his clients only received about 28 cents on the dollar for their losses from the Virginia State Bar Clients' Protection Fund and from the receivership.

Unfortunately, there are dishonest lawyers out there. That is why you have to do your homework and ask a lot of questions before hiring an attorney to represent you.

Full post as published by Northern Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).