Workers Disappointed by Settlements often Blame Counsel

California applicants' attorneys are lucky to get 15% of any award they can obtain for their clients in a system where benefit levels have been stripped roughly in half since 2004 reforms.But that doesn't mean their clients view their services as a bargain, as a pair of California Court of Appeal decisions handed down late last month illustrates. The appellate courts rejected malpractice actions by self-represented injured workers against their former attorneys for alleged negligence in securing settlements on their behalf.One of the workers was dissatisfied that her attorney had settl...