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Hooray South Florida -- We Set A New Low-Water Mark!

Hmm, I don't recall learning in law school how to hire somebody who paid somebody at a hospital for PI leads and then cutting that person a percentage of any fees generated, but you know how crazy kids are today:

A Miami man was charged Thursday with buying confidential patient records from a Jackson Memorial Hospital employee over the past two years, and selling them to a lawyer suspected of soliciting the patients to file personal-injury claims.

Ruben E. Rodriguez allegedly paid JMH ultrasound technician Rebecca Garcia $1,000 a month for the hospital records of hundreds of patients treated for slip-and-fall accidents, car-crash injuries, gunshot wounds and stabbings, federal authorities said.

Rodriguez then brokered the patients' names, addresses, telephone numbers and medical diagnoses to the lawyer, according to an indictment. The lawyer, not identified in court papers, used the information ``to improperly solicit JMH patients with hopes of representing them in future legal proceedings.''

Later, the lawyer paid Rodriguez a percentage of the legal settlements won from the patients' personal-injury claims, authorities said.

Also, last I checked, you were not supposed to share fees with non-lawyers, or is that also one of those ancient and "dated" rules like the Geneva Convention where you had to provide prisoners with handlebar mustaches and tins of potted beef or something?

I tell you, it's hard to keep up.

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on July 31, 2009 (boomark / email).