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When you are involved in a personal injury case, you may have your attorney handle many of the tasks that you do not want to handle yourself. However, one thing your attorney cannot do is settle your personal injury case on their own. If this happens, you'll need to file a lawyer disciplinary complaint form.

How a Personal Injury Case Should Be Settled

Your attorney may negotiate a settlement, but you should have the ultimate say in whether you will settle your personal injury case. You could pursue a higher settlement or you could choose to accept a lower settlement early on. If your attorney instead settles your case for you, they may be guilty of legal malpractice.

Why An Attorney Might Settle Without Your Permission

Despite the risk of being accused of legal malpractice, some attorneys choose to settle a case early because they believe the settlement is the best option and are simply frustrated with their clients. Unfortunately, many clients do not understand that an attorney does not have the right to settle a case. 

After your attorney has settled your case, you will not be able to file another claim. If you want to take any further action, you will be able to file a legal malpractice claim against your attorney.

How to File a Complaint

You can file a complaint as a way to deter your attorney from taking these types of actions in the future. Lawyers should be expected to be professional and act in an ethical manner. Fortunately, the process of filing a complaint is very simple. You will simply need to fill out a form. 

There is no fee for filing a complaint. You will not need to be a US citizen and you should not be asked about your immigration status.

How to Bolster Your Claim

When you are filing an attorney disciplinary complaint form, you will need to provide supporting documents along with your claim. You will need to establish that the individual was actually your attorney. You will need to explain that you were not told the details of the settlement or were not asked before the attorney accepted the settlement offer.

You will want to show evidence that your attorney settled your claim. There might have been a settlement offer and your attorney may have settled for you very quickly. You may not have signed off on the settlement. Then, disciplinary action can be taken.