Analysis of Law Partners itemised bill

This short analysis of the Law Partners itemised bill as a part of the problem of exaggerated legal fees. I went through only part of it.

Itemised bill has 26 items. I am checking all items one by one to see what they are really charging for. The analysis is based on the information that I have. If I find any additional information, I will update this fee analysis. These fees seem exceptionally unfair, and it feels like a part of scam (I can find a better word for it). I will write additional information about the pain and suffering it caused me. However, for this I will need help from a psychologist and other supporting people.

Summary

Charge for all phone calls and emails twice: as part of other items and additionally individually just calls or correspondence, even if by the contract they were already covered by other items and should not be charged additionally (items: 1, 2, 3, 5).
Charge for the tasks they have not performed, but simply asked the client to provide final information (item 4).
I had a look at 34 general communication items: 7 have no correspondence, 6 were just notifications of appointments, for notification of one appointment with Dr Khan they charge 4 times. None of them should have been charged based on the contract.
There were items like reminding about missing attachment to email, extra 2 items charged.
They made 2 mathematical errors and charge extra $3,210.01.

Itemised bill analysis

Table

Note:

Keeping it as table was not practical. I arranged as text, but keep the same flow of items, just numbered them.
italic - text from Law Partners itemised bill
bold italic - text from Law Partners contract.

1

B	*500.00*	0	dup	Telephone attendance. Each telephone attendance not directly related to other items in this schedule.

Item 1. Fee code from contract: B

Description: Telephone Attendances (10 @ $50.00)
To/From Client: 30/05/18, 14/06/18, 27/09/18, 12/03/19, 3/05/19, 29/10/19, 30/10/19, 4/02/20, 8/05/20 (x2)

Bill Amount: 500.00

Corrected Amount: 0

B - from contract: Telephone attendance. Each telephone attendance not directly related to other items in this schedule.

Analysis: Dr Stonis calls history.

Date	Duration	Type
2018-05-30		no record found
2018-06-14		no record found
2018-09-27	38s	Outgoing
2019-03-12	6m 17s	Outgoing
2019-05-03	6m 29s	Outgoing
2019-10-29	4m 0s	Outgoing
2019-10-30	1m 34s	Outgoing
2020-02-04	5m 34s	Outgoing
2020-05-08	1m 23s	Outgoing

Total 25m 55s.

All calls are directly related to other items and should not be duplicated here.
There is only 1 call in call history on 2020-05-08.

2

Item 2. Fee code from contract (text see 1): B

Description: Telephone Attendances (10 @ $50.00)
To/From third parties: 26/04/18, 30/05/18, 18/07/18, 23/07/18, 15/08/18, 26/11/18, 10/01/19, 25/10/19, 13/11/19, 7/01/20

Bill Amount: 500.00

Corrected Amount: 0

Analysis:

There are no records of these calls being made.
All Law Partners activities related to the claim are covered by other items. If some calls were made they should be covered by other items from the fees list.

3

Item 3. Fee code from contract (text see 1): B

Description: Telephone Attendances (5 @ $50.00)
To/From McInnes Wilson Lawyers: 29/1/20 (x2), 17/03/20, 6/05/20 (x2)

Bill Amount: 250.00

Corrected Amount: 0

Analysis:

There are no records of these calls being made.
All Law Partners activities related to the claim are covered by other items. If some calls were made they should be covered by other items from the fees list.

4

Item 4. Fee code from contract: F

Description: Centrelink (Repayment) Estimate (1 @ $90.00): 22/10/19

Bill Amount: 90.00

Corrected Amount: 10.00

F - from contract: Centrelink (repayment estimate). All activities required to obtain repayment / payback estimate from Centrelink (including, for example, correspondence, completion of estimate forms, telephone attendances and advice to you).

Analysis:

The estimate and amount received was provided to Gillian Potts.
There is no record of any estimate done by Potts.

5

Item 5. Fee code from contract: G

Description: General Correspondence: (132 @ $180.00): To/from Client: 16/04/18, 28/04/18, 1/05/18, 7/05/18, 10/05/18, 15/5/18 (x2), 30/05/18, 6/06/18, 11/06/18, 14/06/18, 17/06/18, 18/06/18, 5/07/18, 9/07/18, 10/07/18, 18/07/18 (x2), 19/07/18, 26/07/18, 3/8/18 (x2), 4/09/18 (x2), 2/10/18, 4/10/18, 11/10/18, 26/11/18, 29/11/18, 17/12/18, 8/01/19, 17/01/19, 9/03/19, 12/03/19, 16/03/19 (x2), 18/03/19, 25/03/19, 28/03/19, 3/04/19 (x2), 17/04/19 (x2), 18/04/18 (x4), 21/04/19, 22/04/19(x2), 23/04/19, 24/04/19, 28/04/19, 29/04/19 (x5), 30/04/19 (x4), 2/05/19, 22/05/19 (x2), 8/07/19, 9/07/19 (x3), 11/07/19, 18/07/19 (x2), 20/08/19, 26/08/19, 25/09/19, 30/809/19, 1/10/19 (x2), 2/10/19 (x2), 3/10/19 (x2), 4/10/19, 8/10/19, 14/10/19, 17/10/19, 24/10/19 (x2), 27/10/19, 25/10/19, 27/10/19 (x2), 28/10/19, 29/10/19 (x2), 30/10/19, 4/11/19, 6/11/19, 9/12/19, 17/12/19, 19/12/19 (x2), 26/12/19, 8/01/20, 9/01/20, 20/01/20, 4/02/20, 5/02/20, 2/03/20, 3/03/20, 17/03/20, 18/03/20, 20/03/20, 14/04/20, 23/04/20 (x2), 24/04/20, 28/04/20 (x2), 29/04/20 (x2), 6/05/20 (x3), 7/05/20 (x3), 8/05/20 (x3), 11/05/20

Bill Amount: 23,760.00

Corrected Amount: 0.00

G - from contract: General correspondence. Drafting, reviewing and finalising each general incoming and outgoing correspondence not directly related to other items in this schedule.

Analysis: Dr Stonis email history.

Sent, Received

Date	Sent / Received	Brief description	Related item
2018-04-16	-	there were no emails on this day
2018-04-28	Sent	Short list of injuries for Alfonsas Stonis case	Intended for items 30 and 33. Law Partners did not pass this information to MAS or doctors.
2018-05-07 (2018-05-01?)	not found	Potts asking for a list of treating doctors	Item 9
2018-05-10	Sent	Email with Steve Sutton contacts and suggesting that Sutton can write a report.	Item 17
2018-05-15 08:32	Received	Confirmation that Steve Sutton contacts received, but she will ask only for the clinical notes.	Item 17
2018-05-15 17:54	Sent	Signed Authority to Release Information.	Items 4, 8, 9
2018-05-31	Received	Note about an appointment with Potts and Pryde.	Item 25
2018-06-05 2018-06-06	Sent	Filled Medicare service forms and unanswered question about it.	Item 8
2018-06-11	Sent	List of household tasks Juste helps me with.	Items 18, 28, 33. Law Partners did not pass this information to MAS or doctors.
2018-06-14	Received	Request for information about loss of income.	Item 18.
2018-06-17	Sent	Question about medical dental treatment and information about effects on drop of hygiene.	Intended for items 27, 28, 32, 33. Low partners did not create following items and failed to include in others.
2018-06-18	Received	Short reply to question about medical dental treatment to keep records.	Intended for items 27, 28, 32, 33. Low partners did not create following items and failed to include in others.
2018-07-05 (duplicate on 2018-07-10)	Received	Note about appointment with Dr Khan.	Item 33.
2018-07-09	-	there were no emails on this day
2018-07-10 (duplicate of 2018-07-05)	Received	Note about appointment with Dr Khan.	Item 33.
2018-07-18	Sent, Received	Notice and reply about travelling overseas for a month.	It does not require actions listed in contract (drafting, reviewing and finalising).
2018-07-19	-	there were no emails on this day
2018-07-26	-	there were no emails on this day
2018-08-03	Sent, Received	Question: should psychologist Sutton send his clinical notes to QBE. Answer: Potts will have a look at it.	Item 17
2018-09-04	Sent, Received	Simple question about including dental treatment in economic loss. Answer: to provide more info and if there was damage sustained during the injury.	Items 18, 32. It was not included in one and another was not prepared. This also was a simple question, that did not require actions listed for G category.
2018-10-02 (2018-07-05, 2018-07-10)	Received	Time change for appointment with Dr Khan	Item 33
2018-10-04	-	there were no emails on this day
2018-10-11 (2018-07-05, 2018-07-10, 2018-10-02)	Sent	Reply to time change for appointment with Dr Khan	Item 33
2018-11-26	Received	Asking for contacts supplied on 2018-09-04.	Intended for items 18, 27, 28, 32, 33. Low partners did not create following items and failed to include in others.
2018-11-29	Sent	Re to 2018-11-26. Info on dental treatment.	Intended for items 18, 27, 28, 32, 33. Low partners did not create following items and failed to include in others.
2018-12-17	-	there were no emails on this day
2019-01-08	Received	Letter from Pryde saying that he had a look at clinical notes and Dr Khan report.	Items 17, 25, 33
2019-01-17 (email date 2019-01-14)	Received	Note about appointment with Dr Roberts.	Item 33
2019-03-09	Sent	Medicare form.	Item 8.
2019-03-12	Received	Re Medicare form.	Item 8.
2019-03-16	Sent, Received	List of GP visited before injury and confirmation of email received.	Item 8, 9.
2019-03-18	Sent	Informing about upcoming travel overseas.	It does not require actions listed in contract (drafting, reviewing and finalising).
2019-03-25	-	Appointment notification, same notification on 2019-04-03.	Item 27.
2019-03-28	Received	Copy of Dr Roberts report.	Item 33.
2019-04-03 (x2)	Received	Confirmation of appointment. The whole content in both emails: "Thank you I have received it. I will be there." and "Thank you for confirming you will be attending the conference with myself and Mr Pryde on 16 April 2019. We look forward to seeing you."	Item 27.
2019-04-17 (x2)	Sent	Suggestion to get report from SS instead of notes. Confirmation that Law Partners wants only notes.	Item 9.
2019-04-18 (x3 and one on 2019-04-21)	Received, Sent	Request of information for statement and information was provided.	Item 24.
2019-04-21	Received	Out of office - auto-reply to cc.
2019-04-22 (x2)	Sent	Information for statement.	Item 24.
2019-04-23	Sent	Information for statement about project before the injury.	Item 24.
2019-04-23	Sent	Information for statement about project before the injury.	Item 24.
2019-04-24	Sent	Information for statement that can not get statement from reqruiter I have met before the injury.	Item 24.
2019-04-28	Sent	CV to add to statement.	Item 24.
2019-04-29 (x2)	Sent	CV to add to statement. Forgot to attach file in previous email.	Item 24.
2019-04-29 (x2)	Received and Sent	Juste statement.	Item 21.
2019-04-29	Received	Claimant statement.	Item 24.
2019-04-30 (x4)	Sent and Received	Claimant statement including confirmation that statement received. This is trivial communication sending draft statement and getting it back signed. Law Partners together with previous emails include it 6 times.	Item 24.
2019-05-02	Sent	Unanswered question about medicare.	No work done (item 8).
2019-05-02 (x2)	Sent and received	Notification of going overseas and question about next events. Reply, that application for Medical Assessment Services (MAS) has been submitted and they will make an appointment for assessment.	Item 28.
2019-07-08, 2019-07-09 (x3), 2017-07-11, 2019-08-20, 2019-08-26	Received and sent.	5 emails of notification of MAS appointment with one change of the appointment date.	Item 28.
2019-09-25	-	There were no emails on this day. Might be a duplicate of email on 2019-09-30.
2019-09-30	Received	Notification of appointment on 2019-10-22.
2019-10-01	-	There is only one email this day. There is out of office auto-reply to CC next day. Maybe they are charging for it.
2019-10-01, 2019-10-02 (x2), 2019-10-03 (x2), 2019-10-04	Sent, Received.	Asking for review of assessment with indication of errors in it. Potts mostly ignored emails and did nothing. She replied once and wrote that she is out of office and will try to give a call, but will discuss it in person on 22 October.	Items 28, 29.
2019-10-08	-	No emails this day.
2019-10-14	Sent	Centrelink payments.	Item 4.
2019-10-17	Sent	List of errors in medical assessment.	Items 28, 29.
2019-10-24 (x2)	Sent, received	Asking confirmation on deadline to appeal to MAS assessment. Reply confirming appeal deadline and that there are grounds to appeal.	Items 28, 29.
2019-10-27	Sent	Confirming request to appeal MAS assessment and update on current treatment.	Items 28, 29.
2019-10-25	Received	Request for copies of tax returns, passport and Axe Group payslips. This information was already provide previously in bundle of the documents at the start of claim with Law Partners.	Item 18.
2019-10-27 (x2)	Sent	Passport copies and communication about one project for Dr Stonis statement.	Items 24.
2019-10-28	Sent	Copies of income tax assessment. This information was already provide previously in bundle of the documents at the start of claim with Law Partners.	Items 18.
2019-10-29 (x2)	Sent	Tax assessments and Axe group payslips. This information was already provide previously in bundle of the documents at the start of claim with Law Partners.	Items 18.
2019-10-30	Received	Confirmation that application for MAS review was sent.	Item 29.
2019-11-04	Received	Paper notification of appointment with Moodley.	Item 19.
2019-11-06	Received	Email (copy) notification of appointment with Moodley.	Item 19.
2019-12-09	Received	Forwarded leter from barrister about MAS review application and Mr Sutton report.	Items 16, 29.
2019-12-17	Sent	Notification of Traumatic Clinic program treatment times.	Was not used. Should have been part of claim (items 24).
2019-12-19 (x2)	Sent, received	Question about and notification of Chirstmas break dates.	Simple question about Chistmas break dates. Should not be charged (items 26).
2019-12-26	Sent	Ignored question about Moodley appointment.	Should not be charged as was ignored and no work done. Also even if it would be replied it is already charged by items 19.
2020-01-08	Sent	Confirmation of date and time for next appointment with Potts.	Item 11.
2020-01-09	Received	Confirmation of date and time for next appointment with Potts.	Items 11.
2020-01-20	Received	Update on Moodley appoitment date.	Items 19.
2020-02-04	Sent	Question about medicare history form.	Item 8.
2020-02-05	Received	Reply about medicare history form.	Item 8.
2020-03-02	Sent	Question if I need to bring X-ray images as requested for psychologist Moodley.	Item 19.
2020-03-03	Received	Reply if I need to bring X-ray images as requested for psychologist Moodley.	Item 19.
2020-03-17	Received	Appoitment with Potts and Pryde.	Items 26.
2020-03-18	Sent	Sent report from specialist about tinnitus that is caused by injury. Ignored by Potts.	Ignored (should been part of item 24).
2020-03-20	Sent	Information about my minimum requirement and request to go to court if offer is not accepted. Also request to provide MAS appeal information, that I have requested before.	Item 26.
2020-04-14	Received	Repeat of previous discussion and confirmation that QBE rejected my offer. Request to sign new contract removing Law Partners %30 fees cap.	Items 26.
2020-04-23 (x2)	Received, sent	Rae send a reminder of previous email. I reminded that I asked for MAS appeal information several times and still did not get it.	Items 26, 29.
2020-04-24	Received	Rae sent MAS appeal reply.	Items 29.
2020-04-28 (x2)/td>	Sent, received	I wrote to Potts to inform that my GP got a medical report that might be from QBE psychologist Moodley. Potts wrote back that she has this report.	Item 19.
2020-04-29 (x2)	Sent, received	I asked Potts to send report to me and she sent it.	Items 19.
2020-05-06 (x3)	Sent, received.	I sent list of factual errors in Moodley report. Potts ignored it and repeated her preasure to settle. I asked for Mr Sutton report that has not been provided previously.	Items 19, 12, 16.
2020-05-07 (x3)	Sent, received	My request for information of requested legal fees. Rae replay to request for Mr Sutton notes and report. Rae sent additional forms for medicare history	billing, Items 16, 17, 8.
2020-05-08 (x3)	Sent, received	After strong objection by Pryde I wrote to Potts confirming that I will not request raw data from Moodley test to prove that she has forged results, as Pryde convinced that they will not send it anyway.	Items 19.
2020-05-11	Sent, received	Request for itemised bill and reply without it.	Items 28, 29.

Total $0.

Analysis: I had a look at all general communication items. None of them should have been charge based on the contract:

7 have no correspondence;
9+2+5+2+1+2+1+2+1 were just notifications of appointment, for notification of appointment with Dr Khan they charge 4 times; for MAS appointment 7+2 emails in total
2 Out of office - auto-reply.
The rest are part of tasks performed for other items.

6

Item 6. Fee code from contract (text see 5): G

Description: General Correspondence (53 @ $180.00) To/From QBE Insurance/ McInnes Wilson Lawyers: 3/04/18, 28/03/18, 16/04/18, 30/04/18 (x3), 22/05/18, 7/06/18 (x2), 5/02/19, 11/06/19 (x2), 14/06/18 (x2), 23/06/18, 25/06/18, 26/06/18 (x3), 27/06/18, 10/07/18, 13/07/18, 26/07/18, 2/08/18, 17/08/18 (x2), 16/10/18, 24/10/18,14/11/18, 9/01/19, 4/02/19, 5/02/19, 29/03/19, 21/03/19, 30/04/19, 13/06/19, 24/09/19 (x2), 25/09/19 (x2), 23/10/19 (x2), 24/10/19, 31/10/19, 1/11/19, 5/11/19, 9/12/19, 17/12/19, 14/01/20 (x2), 15/01/20 (x2), 29/01/20, 19/03/20.

Bill Amount: 9,540.00

Corrected Amount: 0

Analysis: either there is no trace of correspondence at given dates or they are part of other items already listed in the bill.

7

Item 7. Fee code from contract: G

Description: General Correspondence (2 @ $180.00) To/From Third Parties: 10/07/18, 16/07/18.

Bill Amount: 360.00

Corrected Amount: 0

G - from contract: General correspondence. Drafting, reviewing and finalising each general incoming and outgoing correspondence not directly related to other items in this schedule.

Analysis: there is no trace of correspondence at given dates.

8

Item 8. Fee code from contract: H

Description: Medicare/Private Health Insurance (4 @ $250.00) - 17/04/18; 20/02/19, 24/10/19, 6/05/20

Bill Amount: 1000.00

Corrected Amount: 250

H - from contract: Medicare / private health insurance. All activities required to obtain a valid notice of past benefits from Medicare or a private health insurer (including, for example, requesting a Medicare History Statement or a Benefit / Claim History Statement, drafting and forwarding correspondence to you enclosing relevant forms and correspondence, forwarding completed Medicare History Statement, Compensation Statutory Declaration and any other related documents to Medicare or private health insurer, diarising relevant dates to complete and requesting and extension from Medicare if required).

Analysis: I had no private insurance only Medicare. There were no Medicare related correspondence on 2019-10-24. All Law Partners did was to forward few Medicare forms. They did not keep any history of doctor appointments related to Medicare. Because Law Partners refused to complete claim going to MAS assessment they did only part of documentation for Medicare. The very limited information Law Partners provided about link between Medicare and insurance claim did not let me properly provide information to Medicare, this caused me to do extra work on my own to fix it.

9

Item 9. Fee code from contract: K

Description: Perusal of Defendant’s Medical Reports (Treating Reports) ( 13 @ $290.00):

Ambulance Report (30/03/15)

RPA Hospital (ED clinical record) (30/03/15)

Dr E Lazarus (CT brain) (2/04/15)

Dr S. Tjandra (GP management plan) (28/04/15)

J. Dua, psychologist (28/09/15)

Joyce Chiu (Psychological management plan) (2/11/15)

Dr S. Breit (4/02/16)

Dr C. Hiew (L foot x-ray) (24/10/15)

Dr S. Breit (9/06/16)

Dr R. Lim (R knee x-ray) (14/02/17)

Dr R. Lim (R knee ultrasound) (21/02/17) - -Dr K-C. Ho (R knee MRI) (2/03/17)

Dr J. Wenderoth (cervical / thoracic CT) (26/03/18)

Bill Amount: 3,770.00

Corrected Amount: 290

K - from contract: Perusal of defendant's or proposed defendant's medical report (treating report). All activities required to peruse, analyse and review a medical report served by a defendant or a proposed defendant by a treatment provider (including, for example, analysis of medical report, considering impact on the claim / case and suitability of re-service upon defendant or proposed defendant and provision of summary and advice upon you).

Analysis: Out of 13 listed objects only 2 have been acquired by Law Partners: ED clinical notes and Foster Practice Group P/L (Dr S. Tjandra clinical notes). The rest of the documents have been mostly provided as a bundle at the start of Law Partners involvement. None of the documents were given proper attention as for example psychological management plan had diagnosis of PTSD that was and still is main problem. However, Law Partners did not mention it anywhere. There were 2 options:

they never opened or looked at it. In that case it is complete negligence and they should not charge for it.
they read that I have PTSD and intentionally withheld that information from MAS. That is professional misconduct, but in either way they should not charge for it.

For all the reports related to physical injury (and they all where just few lines) Law Partners from the start told that they will not give it any attention as according to them it will not pass 10% whole person impairment threshold.

10

Item 10. Fee code from contract: T

Description: Conference with Client (2018-04-10).

Bill Amount: 450.00

Corrected Amount: 0

T - from contract: Conference with client/s and/or other person /s. A conference with you and/or other person /s to discuss files, including diarising follow-up action, and not directly falling within any other item in this schedule.

Analysis: Potts said that she does not bill for signing the contract. She also said that they do not charge for first consultation. Even if it was only about their contract and very little information was give. Later it all proved to be false.

11

Item 11. Fee code from contract (text see 10): T

Description: Conference with Client (2020-01-29).

Bill Amount: 450.00

Corrected Amount: 50

Analysis: Inflating the fees was the only reason Potts organised this meeting. I expressed my instructions to go to independent assessment during previous meeting. I was under impression that this meeting is to sign some papers. It was not required previously, but I do not know procedure.

12

Item 12. Fee code from contract (text see 10): T

Description: Conference with Client (2020-05-06).

Bill Amount: 450.00

Corrected Amount: 50

Analysis: The purpose for this conference was to discuss Moodley report and enormous amount of errors in it. Potts organized conference over Zoom. However, neither she or Pryde ever used or tested it. They joined late and could not solve technical problems. Pryde never had sound working. After more than hour Pryde made a phone call, but he refused to discuss Moodley report, instead verbally abused me calling me a layer and saying that Moodley is undisputed expert and if she says that if Moodley wrote that my girlfriend before the injury was deliver food every day for me to eat between continents that must be true. It is absurd that I should pay anything for what was essentially abuse and attempts to manipulate.

13

Item 13. Fee code from contract: U

Description: Sundry items.

Bill Amount: 500.00

Corrected Amount: 50

U - from contract: Sundry items. Costs of all items for photocopying, faxes, printing costs, postage costs, and all other related administrative costs associated with running your file.

Analysis: All communications were electronically. With the exception of first folder that they received in paper format as well. At the start Potts give me a present of one A4 paper and a few envelopes. Similar ones that were given away for free and at the production cost of a few dollars.

14

Item 14. Fee code from contract: V

Description: File Review - QBE file.

Bill Amount: 500.00

Corrected Amount: 50

V - from contract: File review. All activities required to perform a review, analysis and consideration of material on file (including, for example, review of any associated workers compensation file and considering further action to be taken subsequent to review).

Analysis: There is no QBE file or anything like this. Just in case allow $50.

15

Item 15. Fee code from contract: W

Description: Centrelink (investigation).

Bill Amount: 550.00

Corrected Amount: 50

U - from contract: Centrelink (investigation). All activities relevant to obtaining, analysing and reviewing information from Centrelink (including, for example, medical reports, payment schedules, application forms, review forms, medical certificates, and entire Centrelink file).

Analysis: There was no investigation. Centrelink payment summary was provided by client.

16

Item 16. Fee code from contract: K1

Description: Medical investigation (report) - Mr Stephen Sutton – 2019-11-16.

Bill Amount: 980.00

Corrected Amount: 0

K1 - from contract: Medical investigation (report). All activities required to request, obtain, analyse and review a report from a treating doctor, physiotherapist, chiropractor or other treatment provider (including, for example, letter requesting report with detailed particulars, analysis of medical report other than medico-legal report and provision of summary and advice upon you).

Analysis: There was no investigation. Potts have been asked to get this report at the start of work. However, she refused to do it. Pots got report only after medical assessment when report no longer could be used to provide accurate information about mental health condition. It confirms PTSD diagnosis. It would been very useful for claim, but Law Partners never used it. The other option is that they intentionally withheld crucial information. In either case Law Partners cannot charge for it.

17

Item 17. Fee code from contract: N1

Description: Medical Investigation (reviewing clinical notes) (12 @ $990.00)

Dr John Crawford

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

Poets Corner Medical Centre (x2)

Central Physio & Performance Fitness

Joyce Chiu Psychological Services

Mr Steve Sutton

Ms Barbara Newton

Ms Eloisa Mulet

Dr Jagdish Dua

Dr Peter Cox

Professor Samuel Breit (St Vincent’s Hospital)

Argyle Street Medical Centre

Bill Amount: 11,880.00

Corrected Amount: 990

N1 - from contract: Medical investigation (reviewing clinical notes). All activities required to review and consider clinical notes from a treating doctor, specialist, hospital, physiotherapist, chiropractor or other treatment provider, or from you if they are within your possession.

Analysis: Most of the clinical notes were never used by Law Partners. It seems they never got and read most of them. The amount of investigation is grossly exaggerated. Law Partners acquired only 3 out of 12 listed clinical notes: Foster Practice Group P/L, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Mr Steve Sutton clinical notes.

Dr John Crawford - dentist, there were no clinical notes.
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital - duplicate of Item 9.
Poets Corner Medical Centre (x2) - if Law Partners actually read it, they will have notice that I have visited GP before the injury and did not report any mental health issues. This was very important for establishing mental health status before the injury. There were many important details that have not been used leading to conclusion that they have not read clinical notes. At the best scenario of negligence, they flipped through it. Alternative would be that they intentionally withheld information that was important for this claim. In either case their actions do not meet description of item.
Central Physio & Performance Fitness - three is no trace of these notes in file or any work produced by Law Partners.
Joyce Chiu Psychological Services - contains early diagnosis of PTSD, confirms that mental health problems were caused by road traffic injury and highlights how severe it is on all aspect of my life. Would been very useful for my claim. It is never used anywhere. Notes also contain information about strong headaches. Together with loss of consciousness on impact it gave strong reason for father investigation of brain injury, but Law Partners were strongly against it.
Mr Steve Sutton - has information about my functioning before the injury and after it. It was used by Law Partners, possible because it also was used by QBE. Only QBE have read it and use bit that suited them, sometimes selecting only some words from sentence. These notes contain crucial medical evidence that I have recovered from depression about year before the injury. Again, not used by Law Partners, with optimistic explanation that they have not read it.
Ms Barbara Newton - not used, not have not been acquired separately, but they were part of GP notes. These notes have very important information about problems caused by road traffic injury highlighting PTSD, severity of impact on mental health, concentration and so on. Would been very useful if used. Law Partners either never read it, or intentionally withheld information to weaken the claim.
Ms Eloisa Mulet - not used, not have not been acquired separately, but they were part of GP notes. Clinical notes start with new test to reaffirm PTSD and sever impact by road traffic injury. It would been very useful for my claim. Law Partners either never read it, or intentionally withheld information to weaken the claim.
Dr Jagdish Dua - not in a file, no trace of it, not acquired by Law Partners.
Dr Peter Cox - not in a file, no trace of it, not acquired by Law Partners.
Professor Samuel Breit (St Vincent’s Hospital) - not in a file, no trace of it, not acquired by Law Partners.
Argyle Street Medical Centre - Law Partners got it from QBE solicitor. There were only 3 visits to get referral to see psychologist. Yet, Law Partners, could not notice that there was only one prescription of Cymbalta, that I never used it due to side effects. It got cancelled during next visit when I come back for more sessions. This information would been very important to dismiss lies by Ceballos (QBE solicitor), but was never used.

For list of sumbmited documents see "2019-04-30 A4 Claimants schedule of medical reports.pdf".

18

Item 18. Fee code from contract: J1

Description: Economic Loss Investigation (2 x $980.00) - Australian Taxation Office tax documentation - Claimant’s file of documents pertaining to economic loss.

Bill Amount: 590.00

Corrected Amount: 0

J1 - from contract: Economic loss investigation. All activities required to obtain information regarding employment (including, for example, drafting request to employer or former employer to provide supporting evidence of income or loss of income including payslips, letters, spreadsheets, requesting and analysing tax returns or income assessments not including forensic accountant related activities).

Analysis: Law Partners received information about economic loss and did nothing with it. There was no investigation. I had very high earning capacity when I was injured and there were ways to get expert assessment of it. Law Partners dismissed it as pointless and unfortunately I believed them. The PIC tribunal member used lack of expert assessment as an opportunity to speculate that he had not enough evidence of earning capacity and assign only minimum loss of income. Even in optimistic estimate Law Partners did very bad job. Splitting this task into two makes nos sense.

19

Item 19. Fee code from contract: T1

Description: Perusal of Defendant’s Medical Report (Medico-Legal Report) (1 @ $1,450) - Vanitha Moodley (2020-03-18).

Bill Amount: 1,450.00

Corrected Amount: 0

T1 - from contract: Perusal of defendant's or proposed defendant's medical report (medico-legal report). All activities required to peruse, analyse and review a medical report served by a defendant or a proposed defendant written by a medico-legal specialist (including, for example, analysis of medical report, considering impact on claim /case and suitability of re-service upon defendant or proposed defendant and provision of summary and advice upon you).

Analysis: Receiving this report followed by abusive attack from Law Partners. That was re-traumatizing experience. The report is full of factual errors. Law Partners refused to read it or my comments highlighting the errors. Instead, they used it to verbally attack me and demand accepting insurance offer. Only much later I learned that Moodley is known for incorrect reports. Law Partners must have know this. Before her reports reached court 3 times and every time have been dismissed as incorrect. There should be compensation from Law Partners for emotional damage and damage on my claim instead of them demanding to pay for it.

20

Item 20. Fee code from contract: V1

Description: Advice on prospects (liability admitted).

Bill Amount: 1,500.00

Corrected Amount: 0

V1 - from contract: Advice on prospects (liability admitted). All activities required to advise on prospects on liability (including, for example, obtaining NSW Police Report, review of police report, analysis of all material relevant to liability, reviewing correspondence from defendant or proposed defendant and advising as to defendant or proposed defendant's position on liability).

Analysis: Liability was admitted before Law Partners involvement. Therefore, there was no talk or any action about admitting liability.

21

Item 21. Fee code from contract: W1

Description: Statement - witness (Juste Stoniene - 2019-04-29).

Bill Amount: 1,650.00

Corrected Amount: 200

W1 - from contract: Statement. All activities required to obtain a statement from a key witness, provider of domestic assistance or any other party likely to contribute positively to the claim /case, not including statement from you or having an investigator or a commercial agent attending to procurement of statement (but including, for example, conference with the statement provider, if required, drafting statement, editing statement, reviewing evidence, considering appropriateness of evidence).

Analysis: Statement was taken by barrister and Potts just happened to be in the room. Statement does not include key information that Dr Stonis suffered from PTSD after the injury it also left out the information that he recovered from previous depression before the injury and Juste have not seem him depressed till he got injured. All this information was provided to Law Partners, but not included in statement.

22

Item 22. Fee code from contract: C2

Description: Preparation for each informal settlement conference (3 @ 2,450.00) - 2019-10-22, 2019-12-18, 2020-03-19.

Bill Amount: 7,350.00

Corrected Amount: 0

C2 - from contract: Preparation for each informal settlement conference. All activities required in preparation for each informal settlement conference (including, for example, telephone attendances with the defendant or proposed defendant, drafting schedule of out of pocket expenses including telephone attendances upon all treating medical practitioners and correspondence requesting information, preparation of all deductions, pre-settlement discussions with the defendant or proposed defendant, pre-settlement discussions with you including advice regarding settlement of file, arranging conference venue, arranging interpreter if required, general review of file prior to settlement discussions).

Analysis: There were no preparations done for any attempt to settle. There was no information given or any work done before meeting. So far, I have not found any records that would show that a single meeting with QBE solicitors took place. These so-called conferences had only one purpose to inflate fees with 0 preparations for them. Settlement if done properly is very important and can be the end of the claim. However, in this case there were no preparations, that in my view is serious professional misconduct.

23

Item 23. Fee code from contract: D2

Description: Settlement or assessment finalisation.

Bill Amount: 2,450.00

Corrected Amount: 0

D2 - from contract: Settlement or assessment finalisation. All activities required to finalise the settlement or assessment of a file (including, for example, preparing authority to settle, authority to receive, trust account authority, reviewing defendant's or proposed defendant's deed of release, discussing settlement documentation with you, correspondence to defendant or proposed defendant, reviewing Centrelink documents relevant to settlement, telephone attendances on defendant or proposed defendant chasing payment of monies and accounting for monies received).

Analysis: There were no settlement and Law Partners refused to go to assessment.

24

Item 24. Fee code from contract: F2

Description: Statement (claimant).

Bill Amount: 3,150.00

Corrected Amount: 200

F2 - from contract: Statement (claimant). All activities required to obtain a statement from you (including, for example, conference if required, reviewing evidence, considering appropriateness of evidence and all other activity required to obtain a statement for claim /case preparation).

Analysis: Gillian Potts arrived more than an hour late. The statement was given in a process of less than two hours with no participation from Gillian Potts. It was recorded by Ken Pryde. Pryde excluded any mentioning of PTSD referring to his experience as the reason to do so. He also wrote some part of the statement if very wage language. At the time Pryde insisted that there is no need to go into details. However, later PIC member Macken used this wage language to attack my credibility. While this does not excuse Macken further distorting information provided in statements, yet the wage language used by Pryde in the statement was damaging.

For example, I provided detailed information about Railcorp project I was working in Australia including start and end dates and hourly rates (there were different rates for 2 contracts). However, statement was shortened to wage information:

21. In about 2010 or 2011, colleagues in Lithuania informed me of some work which was being done by a German company named SCIIL AG for RailCorp in NSW. I made enquiries and was able to obtain contract work both for SCIIL Group and also another Spanish company that was also doing RailCorp work.

22. I managed to work there for a year or so on what were pilot projects being done in the hope of obtaining a major contract for RailCorp. Neither of those companies ever obtained a final contract, and the RailCorp work was ultimately limited to a period of about 12 to 18 months in the years 2010 through to 2011 or 2012.

Macken used this opportunity to question my credibility:

He states somewhat inexactly, in about 2010 and 2011 he was advised of work been done by a German company, SCIIL AG, which was contracted to provide work to RailCorp. Notwithstanding the assertions of the claimant in respect to his earnings, and he doesn't specifically state what his earnings were, his tax returns show that he was only earning about $500 per week for the financial year 2010 and 2011.

I have not ever written statement and my cognitive abilities were severely reduced at that time. However, this statement should have raised concerns even if she just scanned it.

25

Item 25. Fee code from contract: I2

Description: Barrister (pre-litigation).

Bill Amount: 3,450.00

Corrected Amount: 0

I2 - from contract: Barrister (pre-litigation). All activities required to engage and maintain engagement with a barrister prior to commencement of legal proceedings (including, for example, arranging conferences with barrister, conferences with client and solicitor relevant to the engagement of a barrister, selecting and collating documents, preparing brief for barrister, preparing observations and summary of facts for barrister, reviewing barrister's advice/s, updating barrister's brief as and when required and telephone attendances on barrister).

Analysis: Work done by Law Partners never reached the stage when barrister should be involved. The type of work and quality of work done by barrister was way below qualifications for any barrister. The involvement of barrister served only one purpose: to inflate Law Partners fees. Also there was no work done in introduce barrister to claim as from the first meeting it seemed that barrister did not know anything about my case.

26

Item 26. Fee code from contract: J2

Description: Attend each informal settlement conference (3 @ $3,950.00) - 2019-10-22, 2019-12-18, 2020-03-19.

Bill Amount: 11,850.00

Corrected Amount: 50

J2 - from contract: Attend each informal settlement conference Attendance at each informal settlement conference (including, for example, all communications with you on the day, all communications with the defendant/s or their legal representative /s on the day, instructing barrister /s on the day if required, travel to and from informal settlement conference, any subsequent discussions required immediately post settlement and advice regarding settlement).

Analysis: In reality there were no settlement conferences. I have not seen anyone from QBE nor I have seen any traces that they were invited. I have never requested these conferences, basically I was tricked into attending them. There were no preparations, nor any reason for any conferences as from the first offer from QBE I asked to go for independent assessment. There was no new information and I was under impression that Law Partners are asking to me to come and sign some documents before submitting them for assessment. Then during the meeting they would come very late, especially Potts. I think one time she was more than an hour late. Then they would ask can they make a call to QBE first for some other reason, but also ask maybe there is new offer. They would make only one short call to QBE (no more than few minutes). If there was a call at all as I was asked to leave for that time and was not allowed to hear it. Most of these meetings lasted less than 15 min.

The only purpose of these meetings was to exaggerate fees.

27

Item 27. Fee code from contract: O2

Description: Claim Particulars/Further and Better Particulars ( 1 @ $3,950.00): 2019-04-16.

Bill Amount: $3,950

Corrected Amount: 0

O2 - from contract: Claim particulars /further and better particulars. All activities required to provide a response to a request for particulars (including, for example, reviewing a request for particulars, considering appropriateness of a request for particulars, conference with you if required, telephone calls to you if required, perusing/reviewing file, collating all necessary information required to respond, drafting a response or reviewing and/or settling /finalising a response to a request for particulars drafted by a barrister).

Analysis: There were no particulars. I was never informed about any being produced, nor claim has reached the stage to produce particulars.

28

Item 28. Fee code from contract: R2

Description: MAS application or reply.

Bill Amount: 4,450.00

Corrected Amount: 200

R2 - from contract: MAS application or reply. All activities required to complete and lodge an application or reply to the Medical Assessment Service to resolve disputes (including for example, a dispute regarding permanent impairment or treatment including drafting and finalising submissions, conference with you if required, review of defendant or proposed defendant's MAS reply, review of the MAS determination, considering appropriateness of an application for review, appeal or further assessment if required).

Analysis: MAS application was very poorly prepared. Law Partners avoided any mentioning of PTSD which was the core part of Whole Person Impairment (WPI). While the application was for mental health assessment. Law Partners avoided all clinical notes that mentioned PTSD, excluded it from statement and refused get report from treating psychologist. MAS application did not contain sufficient information about daily functioning on ongoing symptoms. The important evidence was left outside. I was left to present everything myself during interview, but with my limited cognitive abilities that was not possible.

It took changing solicitors and new MAS application to fix problems caused by Law Partners. However, there is nothing that can return lost years and pain and suffering I had to go through because of this injustice.

29

Item 29. Fee code from contract: S2

Description: MAS review application or reply or MAS further assessment or reply.

Bill Amount: 4,450.00

Corrected Amount: 200

S2 - from contract: MAS review application or reply or MAS further assessment or reply. All activities required to complete and lodge a MAS review application or reply or MAS further assessment application or reply (including, for example, obtaining any further evidence required, drafting submissions, reviewing and considering MAS assessment, and considering relevance of AMA Guidelines).

Analysis: MAS reply was written by Pryde with no participation from Potts. Submitting proper request for review when core information was withheld from assessment is difficult. However, even with limited information there was plenty of information about PTSD symptoms that were not addressed by assessment. Request for review also missed some technical details, that could have been supplied after receiving MAS response. However, Law Partners informed me that there is nothing I can do anymore. It was not true. A year later QBE got into the same situation. QBE requested for review based of incorrect information and it was dismissed for the same missing technical details. However, QBE simply supplied that information and got review approved. However, Law Partners in the same situation informed me that matter is closed and there is nothing that can be done.

30

Item 30. Fee code from contract: T2

Description: CARS application or reply (Lodged – 2018-03-28).

Bill Amount: 4,450.00

Corrected Amount: 100

T2 - from contract: CARS application or reply. All activities required to complete and lodge an application or reply to the Claims Assessment Resolution Service (including, for example, application for general assessment or reply, exemption of file from CARS or reply, and application for special assessment or reply including whether a late claim can be made; satisfactory explanation for non-compliance with the police accident report requirement; rejection of a claim for non-compliance; payments made under Section 84A (duty of an insurer to make interim payments in case of hardship).

Analysis: Potts submitted application before I met her simply forwarding information that was sent to her. She told me that there was very little work, and she is not going to charge for it. According to her charging for it would not be fair as I was not informed about fees, we had no agreement and she simply forwarded information that I already collected myself.

31

Item 31. Fee code from contract: W2

Description: Chronology.

Bill Amount: 4,950.00

Corrected Amount: 0

W2 - from contract: Chronology. All activities required to prepare a chronology (including, for example, perusal of all evidence in order to create numerous entries in chronology, drafting chronology and organising all entries into chronological order, considering content of chronology, conference with you if required).

Analysis: Chronology was never produced by Law Partners.

32

Item 32. Fee code from contract: X2

Description: Schedule of damages.

Bill Amount: 4,950.00

Corrected Amount: 0

X2 - from contract: Schedule of damages. All activities required to prepare and/or settle/finalise a schedule of damages (including, for example, perusing/reviewing entire file, considering evidence, analysis of all evidence, research of relevant case law and legislation, considering, calculating and/or checking amounts for the schedule of damages, drafting schedule of damages or reviewing and settling/finalising schedule of damages drafted by barrister, forwarding schedule of damages to defendant/s or proposed defendant/s).

Analysis: Schedule of damages was never produced by Law Partners.

33

Item 33. Fee code from contract: D3

Description: Medico-Legal Report (2 @ $6,450.00)

Dr Sikander Khan (2018-10-12)

Dr John Albert Roberts (2019-02-18).

Bill Amount: 12,900.00

Corrected Amount: 400

D3 - from contract: Medico-legal report. . All activities required to obtain a medico-legal report (including, for example, considering appropriate medico-legal specialist to qualify, reviewing file and collating relevant supporting material to be forwarded to specialist, drafting letter of instruction to specialist, making appointment arrangements, confirming appointment arrangements, advice regarding appointment expectations, reviewing and analysing of medico-legal report, considering service of medico- legal report with provision of summary and advice and all other activity required to obtain a medico-legal report).

Analysis: There are several problems with this item:

The way contract is written it seems that these fees include also expert fees. I believe it is intentionally misleading.
Dr Khan is surgeon. However, some crucial information was not collected before making appointment with surgeon. I was told by psychologist that some symptoms that are attributed to PTSD may be also caused by physical brain injury. I was recommended to see neurologist to properly examine if I have any brain injury. I told Law Partners that I am going to make an appointment with neurologist. They were strongly against it, especially Pryde. Unfortunately, it had such a strong impact on me that I seen neurologist after my claim was finished. MRI revealed some scaring in my brain. I do not know how it would affected medical report, but it is clear that information for report was not collected properly.
When making appointment with Dr Roberts several key points were not considered resulting in incomplete report:
- Dr Roberts recommended to refer "for an MRI of the brain to ascertain whether any of underlying brain damage is evident to account for his cognitive compromise". However, Law Partners were strongly against it.
- Dr Roberts also recommended "detailed psychometric tests may be an appropriate further investigation to consider". I did not know what it is and Law Partners recommended that it is not needed.
- Clinical notes from multiple psychologists confirming PTSD have not been supplied to Dr Roberts while PTSD from the road traffic injury is the main problem I am dealing with.
- Dr Roberts mostly represents insurance companies and most of the time does not diagnose PTSD despite someone having classical symptoms of PTSD and being diagnosed by specialist with way more experience with PTSD. After first assessment by Dr Roberts another assessor should have been chosen. The only explanation why Law Partners stick with him is that they put all efforts to avoid PTSD diagnosis and this was very damaging for my claim.

Sum

In summary after the table Law Partners wrote:

 PROFESSIONAL COSTS            $130,490.00
 GST                           $13,049.00
 PROFESSIONAL COSTS (incl GST) $145,539.00

It should be $143,539.00. They are charging $2000.00 too much.

Disbursements

Incorrectly calculated disbursements
Date	Name	Bill sum	Receipt sum	Receipt GST
2018-09-05	CP – clinical notes	93.64	103	9.36
2018-09-05	FP – clinical notes	313.64	345	31
2018-06-13	RP – clinical notes	30	33	3
2018-07-31	FP – clinical notes	57	62.7	5.7
2018-08-15	SS – clinical notes	35	35	0
2018-12-28	SK – medical report fee	1605.01	1765.51	160.5
2019-02-19	JW – clinical notes	54.55	60	0
2019-02-27	JR – medical report fee	1640	1804	164
2020-09-01	SS – medical report fee	750	750	0
2020-06-05	Mr Ken Pryde – counsel fees	25300	26620	2420
	Bill (GST 2908.38)	29878.84
	Total (bill inc. GST)	32788.22	31578.21	2793.56

Law Partners charging in their bill $1,210.01 more than shown in bills.

Medical related disbursements are only $4,958.21.

Even according to their itemised bill due to mathematical errors Law Partners are charging $3,210.01 too much.

Emotional impact

Exaggeration of the cost by Law Partners goes beyond any expectations. I would never expect that lawyers would do such thing so brutally (I believe that correctness of costs is protected by law somehow). They double charge for most of the activities (that I have checked so far) even if it can be proven to be wrong by checking the contract. However, it feels that they seem so convinced that they will get away with it that they do not bother about it. Such activity (I believe is criminal, but again I am not a lawyer, and I will try to find it out) might seem strange, but you have to take into account that they know that I have PTSD and I am not able to deal with these things. Anything related to injury causes panic attacks and my brain shutting down. I was re-traumatised by this injustice. I think that was exactly their purpose. This is why they went to such absurd false claims. I will not be able to defend myself if they manage to cause me to be completely overwhelmed and not be able to cope. And their plan worked. They did cause significant damage. I am going through their bill only after 3 years of intense therapy and still struggling to cope with it. Unfortunately, I have spent several months just on this bill as it is so unfair and stressful. I am stuck with it: cannot get it out of my mind and cannot deal with it. I hope to figure it out one day. I will write about my experience.

Notes

I copy text from bill as it is with two exceptions:

Changed dates to ISO 8601. All communications are electronically and it is way more convenient and common that there format used by Law Partners.
Removed Dr from Vanitha Moodley. She wrote a lot of absurd lies, but even she did not dear give her self a title.