Friedman | Rubin Obtains Ruling Denying Settling Defendants’ Demand For Indemnification by Plaintiff’s Counsel

Anchorage, AK

An Alaska Superior Court Judge ruled from the bench today that a settling defendant could not demand indemnification by Plaintiff’s counsel of Medicare Set-Aside Allocations intended to cover a claimant’s future Medicare qualified medical expenses. Friedman | Rubin Partner Donna McCready had argued that such indemnification was an additional term not agreed to at the time of settlement and that it was unethical for Plaintiffs’ counsel to agree to indemnify defendant (and unethical for defendant to request Plaintiffs’ counsel to enter into such an agreement), citing a growing list of ethics opinions from around the country. Donna’s briefs with attached opinions are linked here (Response, Reply) for the benefit of other attorneys faced with similar unethical demands from insurers or settling defendants.