The topic of this video is what is a letter of protection in a personal injury case. So you may have heard me reference an LOP or a letter of protection frequently in this video series, but I may not have explained in great detail what exactly a letter of protection is here in Florida. Now, letters of protections or LOP’s are very common in almost all personal injury cases. So you may have heard this terminology and I just wanted an opportunity to explain where it comes up and how it works. So an LOP is a contract that is signed between you, your lawyer and your medical providers and it’s not just your doctor. It could also be with an MRI company, physical therapists, you name it, any place that you go to obtain medical treatment, they may require you to sign this lop contract. And what the contracts says is that if, if they are not, if that meant if that treatment provider is not paid through insurance, they’re complete bill or whatever the case may be and there is a balance left outstanding, then you and your lawyer agree that that bill will be paid out of the proceeds of your personal injury case before you are paid anything.
So LLPs actually need to be watched. They needed to be understood. They need to be understood and watch throughout the case because it’s really just an Iou to a doctor. And if the proceeds of the settlement are not enough to pay those bills, you can be legally responsible to pay that doctor. So you really need to watch those bills to make sure they don’t get out of hand in conjunction with your lawyer. So the lawyer should be monitoring those bills to make sure that they are a number that can be reimbursed out of the settlement. So that’s basically what an LOP is. In a personal injury case, we find them, as I mentioned before, in almost all personal injury cases, regardless of whether the providers being paid through pip or no-fault insurance, most providers want an LOP just to make sure that they are secured on the backend. So look for them. Hopefully, now you understand what exactly an LOP or letter of protection is in your personal injury case.
*The above has been transcribed by a third party service and has not been checked for accuracy
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