Bob:

I missed the earlier posts so can only surmise that the problem is that Allstate refused to pay for his rental car. What would I do? What would I charge? That would depend upon lots of things, was he a friend, a family member, a regular client?

Next, and perhaps most important, what does the policy say? I might advise him to forget it, that the policy doesn't cover rental expenses or I might tell him to file a claim in small claims court where neither party can have a lawyer. At the outset I'd likely write to Allstate on his behalf, if I concluded that there was coverage, and see what the response was. There is a doctrine in insurance law called "bad faith" which allows policy holders to claim for the unpaid claim as well as their attorney's fees and, sometimes, treble damages. If I thought he had a good "bad faith" claim I might do it on a contingency.

The point here is that lawyers and clients need to work together, with mutual respect, to a collective result that is in the client's best interest.

Tort reform is a whole new issue--until the insurance industry discloses how much they pay out vs. how much they collect in premiums, we cannot know why premiums are so high for all of us. Many of us believe, based upon history, that premiums go up not because of excessive jury awards but because the stock market is down and the insurance industry is losing money on its investments instead. Finally, history shows us that those states that have enacted some form of "tort reform" have not seen a reduction in premiums.

Enough--