Ethics Hotline & Opinions

ETHICS DOCKET NO. 2001-12

MARYLAND STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, INC.

COMMITTEE ON ETHICS

ETHICS DOCKET NO. 2001-12

Loans to Clients in Personal Injury Cases


Your company provides loans to individuals injured in auto accidents, which are repaid from the proceeds of their settlement. The individual’s attorneys provide you with certain information, and based on this information, a decision is made on whether to make the loan.

If the loan is approved, you provide loan documents and the check to the attorney who sees to it that the documents are executed, the check is released and the documents returned to you.

You would like to reimburse the attorney an amount up to $25.00 for the labor and photocopying costs associated with providing these documents to you on behalf of the client.

You ask if it is ethical for you to offer and the attorney to accept the reimbursement?

Under the Maryland Ethics Rules an attorney may accept reimbursement for reasonable expenses in connection with the representation of a client.

 

Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct 1.5 and 1.8(f)


DISCLAIMER: Opinions of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) Ethics Committee are an uncompensated service of the MSBA. This Committee’s opinions are not binding on the Maryland Court of Appeals, Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission, MSBA or this Committee. The reader is advised that subsequent judicial opinions, revisions to the rules of professional conduct, and future opinions of this Committee may render the Opinions stated herein outdated. As such, the Committee’s opinions are advisory only and neither the Committee nor the MSBA assumes any liability whatsoever with respect thereto. Accordingly, reliance upon the opinions of this Committee is solely at the risk of the user.