We got served

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workinforwood

workinforwood

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
8,173
Location
Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
We got served by our old Dentist from 3 yrs ago. He retired without giving any notice to anyone, even his employees. He told them as he walked out the door! We owed him $95. He has outstanding bills for over 600 clients. He never even sent anyone the bill. 3 yrs after retiring, he mails all the bills to a lawyer in town here and says sue em all! I went down to the lawyers and paid the $95, no problem..now I am not being sued. It cost the dentist $125 to get my $95. He must have lost his marbles! Most the people who owe, owe less than the cost of suing, because of the lawyer fee, paperwork fee and server fee. He could just mail everyone a bill and get paid by most I'm sure. If you pay right away, you are not responsible for any of the costs, just the initial bill. What a doofis!
 
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Jeff:

I was in private practice for 25 years, and in addition to the dentist being a doofis, the lawyer didn't do him any favors by immediately suing. A better lawyer would have sent demand letters first, FYI. But as you say, all it cost you was the original amount bc you paid immediately-and the net amount to the dentist bc of the cost of suit is a negative.

Trust me, there is no figuring people out, especially when you deal with the public.

Roger
 
Heck I had an appt the other day and get there find a note on the door saying he died get you records from the Chro next door
 
I have seen it time and time again. Medical people have the smarts to get thru all of the medical school and interships but when it comes to business, they are just plain dumb. (I worked in the Admin of a hospital for almost 15 years.)
 
Ah...we got a bunch of comedians here!! :)

they can't and won't ding my report for this. Only actual legal judgement in court would do that. Sure was the strangest thing though..cop at my door looking for the wife. I'd be really disappointed if I had to make my own Thanksgiving dinner!
 
Might not be as it seems

workinforwood said:
Ah...we got a bunch of comedians here!! :)

they can't and won't ding my report for this. Only actual legal judgement in court would do that. Sure was the strangest thing though..cop at my door looking for the wife. I'd be really disappointed if I had to make my own Thanksgiving dinner!
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I have a notion that the action might not be as it appears on the surface. His fee arrangement with the lawyer was probably based on a percentage of the total amount collected or was a flat fee covering all of the cases. I can't imagine a lawyer agreeing to file 600 lawsuits even in small claims court --- it would probably be unethical at best and grounds for disbarment at worst.

I was president of an organization where we filed a lot of claims because of people not paying their annual assessments - we had a lawyer on retainer who got an annual fee and he filled out the paperwork. The summons was served by the county sheriff at no cost and the appearance was in Justice of the Peace Court at a very low fee.
 
From what the lawyer told me, he is to sue everyone, but everyone has the opportunity to pay right away and thus have the case dismissed, as that is the law. The lawyer charges $50, the paperwork is $25 and the sheriff is $50. The lawyer is just doing his job, even though he too thinks it's ridiculous business practice for the Dentist who is losing money trying to get his money in this way...the fact that he is doing this helps the lawyer keep his lights on. Yes, it's pretty sad when a lawyer is having a hard time paying his own bills, but times are real tough here in Michigan, especially in a small town full of dentists and lawyers. Those are the two most common businesses in town! We have about 8 dental offices and a dozen lawyer offices and only 2 street lights. Only takes 2 minutes to drive through town.
 
A dentist with people only oweing less then $125(the cost to sue)seems unlikely to me.You can't get a ckeaning for $125,I would bet he has many worth sueing,but to sue those that owe so little is just stupid.Some folks love to waste money its what they do in this life,lol.Glad you got it straight with the crazy man.Victor
 
LandfillLumber said:
A dentist with people only oweing less then $125(the cost to sue)seems unlikely to me.You can't get a ckeaning for $125,I would bet he has many worth sueing,but to sue those that owe so little is just stupid.Some folks love to waste money its what they do in this life,lol.Glad you got it straight with the crazy man.Victor
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See that's where you are wrong though..although a cleaning might be more than $125, I have no idea what dental costs are, but what I do know is that the money everyone owes is due to co-pays. That dentist would not serve you without insurance unless you paid on the spot. All the people that owe money, simply owe for co-pays from insurance, and that's why all the value's are so low. He submitted the bills to the insurance companies, just not to the clients the remaining balances, so nobody paid their co-pays...it's like he expects his customers to call him and ask if they own any money. It's ridiculous.
 
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Folks, sometimes it's not the money, it's the principle. All it takes is one person gloating about getting over on someone to set them off and go after everyone. Without us knowing what brought this on, we shouldn't judge him too harshly, beside, as Jeff said, he closed his doors without any notice to anyone so he may have some other problems.
 
I know....

I get notified by the insurance carrier when I owe a co-pay and how much it might be and it can be a lot more than a couple of dollars. Particularily dental since most dental insurance pays a flat rate per procedure (i.e so much per surface on a filling) regardless of the the dentists price and the patient is responsible for the rest. How much they pay is often based on what is "normal" and reasonable in the geographic ares where the dentist's practice is located.

At any rate it sounds to me like his lawyer gave out a lot more information about this than he should have. Communications between a lawyer and his client are supposed to be confidential and not discussed with whoever happens to walk through the door. That would include things like how much he is paying the lawyer and how many people he is having served. The lawyer should have kept that to himself.
 
Wouldn't a bill three years old be beyond the statute of limitations...in Iowa I believe you have 6 months to file and then 3 or 5 years to persue it, but you MUST file a claim in 6 months. I would think MI would be similar.
 
nah....

moke said:
Wouldn't a bill three years old be beyond the statute of limitations...in Iowa I believe you have 6 months to file and then 3 or 5 years to persue it, but you MUST file a claim in 6 months. I would think MI would be similar.
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Differences in state-to-state laws on bill collection procedures can vary all over the place. In Delaware I had a case where I wasn't even billed by a med center for a year after I received the services. They filed a claim with my insurance carrier but didn't send me a copy of the bill until 8 months after the insurance company paid their share of the bill.
 
I don't know about limitations, didn't even cross my mind. I didn't need a cop at my door or a lawyer. The guy did a service, I owed him money and agree with that. All he needed do was send me a bill and he woulda been paid 3 yrs ago! lol. I never got a bill from my insurance company. I get bills all the time from doctors and dentists for the remaining balances and then I pay them. I don't know what the deal was, or what he's going through, but it sure seemed odd to me. I think you're right though Smitty..the lawyer sure shared a lot of information with me that he probably shouldn't have. I'm over it and paid the bill regardless of the strange situation. Takes all kinds to make the world go around.
 
Perhaps the reason for the lawsuit was to coerce people into paying him, when he knew the statute of limitations had passed?

Regardless, like you, I would have paid anyway, being that he had done the service for me - but I bet many others would not. Perhaps the lawsuit was designed to get people unlike you or I to pay when they otherwise wouldn't have without the scare of a lawyer's solicitation.

Regardless, it's an interesting situation, and a puzzler!
 
That is a great point,I guess I'm used to my oldtimer Doc and Dentist.I pay cash having no insurance so its great to have them work with me.I guess the man is just old and bitter,you seem to either get soft or bitter in old age.He could just donate the cash to some sort of org. that he supports,foolish to waste money while many are in very hard times.Victor



workinforwood said:
LandfillLumber said:
A dentist with people only oweing less then $125(the cost to sue)seems unlikely to me.You can't get a ckeaning for $125,I would bet he has many worth sueing,but to sue those that owe so little is just stupid.Some folks love to waste money its what they do in this life,lol.Glad you got it straight with the crazy man.Victor
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See that's where you are wrong though..although a cleaning might be more than $125, I have no idea what dental costs are, but what I do know is that the money everyone owes is due to co-pays. That dentist would not serve you without insurance unless you paid on the spot. All the people that owe money, simply owe for co-pays from insurance, and that's why all the value's are so low. He submitted the bills to the insurance companies, just not to the clients the remaining balances, so nobody paid their co-pays...it's like he expects his customers to call him and ask if they own any money. It's ridiculous.
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