Client confusion leads to lawsuits, bar complaint against comp lawyer. Mississippi

What’s in a name? Thousands of dollars, a lost job, denied insurance coverage and the possibility of a suspended law license for a Mississippi workers’ compensation attorney, it seems.

It all has to do with the injured workers – both named Dorothy Anderson. One lives in Greenwood, Mississippi; the other in Hattiesburg. At least one was a client of attorney Jay Foster of Ocean Springs on the Mississippi coast.

Foster is accused of mixing up the two women and settling an injury claim in Greenwood Dorothy’s name when the claim actually came and the settlement money wrongly went to Hattiesburg Dorothy, according to court records . However, rather than own up to his mistake, Foster allegedly provided false information to his professional indemnity insurance carrier and others, then filed charges against one of the women, claiming she was an “impostor,” the lawsuits allege.

The alleged actions and reactions created a world of trouble for all parties involved, court documents allege.

Attorney Protective Insurance Co., backed by National Liability & Fire Insurance, a Berkshire Hathaway firm, filed a lawsuit in federal court this week asking a judge to declare that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Foster and the firm in the claims made by both. Dorothy’s. The insurer’s lawyer called it “an extraordinary case”.

“You represented to AttPro that you did not represent Hattiesburg Dorothy and that you represented Greenwood Dorothy,” an Attorney Protective attorney wrote to Foster in a letter filed Aug. 12 in the U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi.

But the documents and “limited information” provided by Foster contradict Foster’s position, the insurer noted.

AttPro has repeatedly asked Foster to provide his firm’s full file on both Dorothies’ claims, but he has refused, attorney Rusty Comley wrote.

“Unfortunately, given the evidence and your lack of cooperation in AttPro’s investigation, AttPro has no choice but to conclude that it is highly likely that you have repeatedly made material misrepresentations regarding Hattiesburg Dorothy’s and Greenwood Dorothy’s claims against you ,” Comley’s letter claims.

AttPro said it had no way of refuting the claims and denied Foster’s professional indemnity coverage. The carrier has agreed to offer a defense under a reservation of rights, meaning Foster can be required to reimburse the insurance company’s attorney fees when the case is settled.

Foster could not be reached Thursday by the Insurance Journal. He has not yet filed a response to the AttPro lawsuit.

The allegations reached the Mississippi Bar Association. The bar notified Foster in March that it had received a formal complaint about him and would proceed with an investigation. A Bar Association spokesman declined to comment Thursday on the status of the investigation, except to say that as of this week, Foster’s law license remains in good standing. He has been a member of the Bar since 1994.

The apparent name mix-up and Foster’s actions also caused difficulties for the two Dorothys, court filings allege. It all started in late 2022 when Dorothy Greenwood returned to work at a fish processing company in the Mississippi Delta known as America’s Catch. She worked there for 27 years, had several work-related accidents over the years, represented herself and received workers’ compensation and time off, her lawsuit against Foster explains.

After her last surgery, she was told that her compensation claim had been settled for $25,000 by her lawyer, Jay Foster. And as part of the deal, she had agreed to stop working at the fish factory.

She was stunned and said she never agreed to any settlement and was not represented by Foster. Her lawsuit alleges that Foster mistakenly provided the settlement funds to the wrong Dororthy Anderson, minus her firm’s fee, without bothering to verify anything.

Foster later tried to get Dorothy Greenwood to accept the settlement, even though her medical costs were far greater than the settlement her lawsuit was paying.

“Had Attorney Foster conducted a cursory examination of the medical records, he would have realized that the amount of Plaintiff’s claims clearly exceeded the amount he attempted to force Ms. Anderson to accept,” the Greenwood woman’s lawsuit states , filed in June.

Now at odds with her employer, Greenwood Dorothy “didn’t feel welcome” by America’s Catch and eventually quit her job. Since then, she hasn’t been able to find a job, her lawyers said in the lawsuit.

Six months earlier, Hattiesburg Dorothy filed her own lawsuit against Foster.

Her lawyers, Ronald Johnson and Corey Gibson, wrote that they must “alert the Court to the bizarre, complicated and complex nature of this case and will try to present the facts in the simplest possible way.”

For Hattiesburg Dorothy, the trouble began several years earlier in 2019, when she contacted Foster to represent her in a workers’ compensation claim. Foster worked with her on a previous application, the lawsuit states. She worked at a nursing home in Hattiesburg, where she injured her shoulder lifting wet laundry. She later injured her shoulder again and signed an agreement with the Foster firm to represent her claim for compensation.

In November 2022, Foster notified Hattiesburg Dorothy that he had obtained a settlement and that she would need to come to his office to sign the documents and accept the check. She did so, deposited the check, then spent much of the money, court documents allege.

A day or two later, Foster apparently realized the terrible mistake he had made.

All along he somehow confused the two women and wrongly told the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission that he had represented the Greenwood woman. The settlement circle was intended for Dorothy Greenwood, although she knew nothing about it, the lawsuit said.

To make matters worse, Foster took no action on the Hattiesburg client’s claim, allowing the claim deadline and statute of limitations to pass, the complaint notes.

At this point, Foster accused Hattiesburg Dorothy of committing fraud by accepting the check and demanded that she return the money. When he said he spent it, Foster and his wife, Sheila, who also worked at the law firm, went to Ocean Springs police and filed charges.

Dorothy J. Anderson of Hattiesburg was indicted, arrested and jailed.

Eventually, some of the facts came out and local prosecutors dropped the case against the woman. She then filed suit against Fosters and the law firm, seeking compensatory, bad faith and punitive damages.

The AttPro/National Liability request for declaratory judgment can be seen here.

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