According to Law360, a married couple is suing their lawyers for legal malpractice after alleging they were exploited by high-interest loans meant to cover medical expenses from a car accident. 

The couple claims they were pushed into signing loan agreements that left them deeper in debt than what their actual settlement covered. The loans, which came with exorbitant interest rates, left the husband owing over $10,000 more than the settlement he received for his personal injury case.

The couple, who are immigrants from the Dominican Republic, claim that they were unaware of the financial implications of the loans due to language barriers. The husband, who “does not speak English and has only a middle school education,” says that his attorneys gave him loan documents to sign in English—documents he couldn’t fully understand. At one point, he says he was even made to sign paperwork on the street without being given any explanation of the terms.

“He claims that his attorneys gave him loan documents to sign in English, which he did not understand, without explaining what they meant, and at one point had him sign paperwork on the street.”

This type of predatory behavior is common in the personal injury world. Victims are often steered into high-interest loans by their attorneys without explanation. The loans, meant to cover medical expenses and living costs during the often lengthy litigation process, accrue at such a high interest rate that they can eventually exceed the value of the settlement itself. In this case, the couple was burdened with debt far beyond what he had recovered from his personal injury case, highlighting the dangers of such financial arrangements.

Such practices leave vulnerable individuals, particularly immigrants, in precarious financial situations.