Client Mix-up Leads to Lawsuits, Bar Complaint Against Mississippi Comp Lawyer

What’s in a name? Thousands of dollars, a lost job, denied insurance coverage and the possibility of a suspended law license for a Mississippi workers’ compensation attorney, apparently.

It all has to do with injured workers – both named Dorothy Anderson. One lives in Greenwood, Mississippi; the other in Hattiesburg. At least one was a client of attorney Jay Foster of Ocean Springs on the Mississippi coast.

Foster is accused of mixing up the two women and settling an injury claim on behalf of the Greenwood Dorothy, when the claim actually came from, and the settlement money mistakenly went to, the Hattiesburg Dorothy, according to court records. Instead of admitting his mistake, though, Foster allegedly provided false information to his professional liability insurance carrier and to others, then filed charges against one of the women, claiming she was an “imposter,” lawsuits contend.

The alleged actions and reactions have created a world of trouble for all parties involved, court documents contend.

Attorney Protective Insurance Co., underwritten by National Liability & Fire Insurance, a Berkshire Hathaway firm, this week filed suit in federal court, asking a judge to declare that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Foster and his firm in claims made by both Dorothys. The insurer’s lawyer called it “an extraordinary case.”

“You have represented to AttPro that you did not represent Hattiesburg Dorothy and that you did represent Greenwood Dorothy,” an attorney for Attorney Protective wrote to Foster in an Aug. 12 letter filed with the U.S. District Court for South Mississippi.

But documents and the “limited information” Foster provided all contradict Foster’s position, the insurer noted.

AttPro has repeatedly asked Foster to provide his firm’s complete file on both Dorothies’ claims but he has refused, attorney Rusty Comley wrote.

“Unfortunately, considering the evidence and your lack of cooperation in AttPro’s investigation, AttPro has no choice but to conclude that it is very likely that you repeatedly made material misrepresentations regarding Hattiesburg Dorothy’s and Greenwood Dorothy’s claims against you,” Comley’s letter contends.

AttPro said it has no way to refute the claims and is denying Foster’s professional liability coverage. The carrier agreed to provide a defense under a reservation of rights, meaning that Foster may be asked to reimburse the insurance company’s attorney fees when the case is concluded.

Foster could not be reached Thursday by Insurance Journal. He has not yet filed an answer to the AttPro suit.

The allegations have made their way to the Mississippi Bar Association. The Bar notified Foster in March that it had received a formal complaint about him and would proceed with an investigation. A spokesman for the Bar on Thursday declined to comment on the status of the investigation except to say that as of this week, Foster’s law license remains in good standing. He has been a member of the Bar since 1994.

The apparent name confusion and Foster’s actions have also caused difficulties for the two Dorothys, court records maintain. It all began in late 2022, when Greenwood Dorothy returned to work at a Mississippi Delta fish-processing company, known as America’s Catch. She had worked there for 27 years, had suffered a few work injuries through the years, had represented herself and had received workers’ comp benefits and time off, her lawsuit against Foster explains.

After her latest surgery, she was told that her comp claim had been settled for $25,000 by her lawyer, Jay Foster. And, as part of the settlement, she had agreed to stop working at the fish plant.

She was flabbergasted and said she had never agreed to any settlement and was not represented by Foster. Her lawsuit contends that Foster had mistakenly provided the settlement funds to the wrong Dororthy Anderson, minus his firm’s fee, without bothering to verify anything.

Foster later attempted to talk Greenwood Dorothy into accepting the settlement, even though her medical costs were much greater than the settlement amount, her suit charges.

“Had attorney Foster conducted a cursory review of the medical records, he would have realized that the value of the plaintiff’s claims clearly exceeded the amount which he attempted to force Ms. Anderson to accept,” reads the Greenwood woman’s lawsuit, filed in June.

Now at odds with her employer, Greenwood Dorothy “did not feel welcome” by America’s Catch and eventually quit the job. She has been unable to find employment since, her attorneys said in the suit.

Six months earlier, Hattiesburg Dorothy had filed her own lawsuit against Foster.

Her lawyers, Ronald Johnson and Corey Gibson, wrote that they must “alert the Court to the bizarre, convoluted and complex nature of this case and will attempt to present the facts in the most straightforward way possible.”

For Hattiesburg Dorothy, the trouble began a few years earlier, in 2019 when she contacted Foster to represent her in a workers’ comp claim. Foster had worked with her on a previous claim, the suit said. She worked at a nursing home in Hattiesburg where she had injured her shoulder lifting wet linens. She later reinjured the shoulder and signed an agreement with the Foster firm to represent her comp claim.

In November 2022, Foster reportedly notified Hattiesburg Dorothy that he had obtained a settlement and she would need to come to his office to sign documents and accept the check. She did that, deposited the check, then spent much of the money, the court documents contend.

A day or two later, Foster apparently realized the terrible mistake he had made.

All along, he had somehow confused the two women and wrongly told the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission that he had represented the Greenwood woman. The settlement check was intended for the Greenwood Dorothy, even though she knew nothing about it, the lawsuit said.

To make matters worse, Foster had failed to take any action on the Hattiesburg client’s claim, allowing the claim filing deadline and statute of limitations to pass, the complaint notes.

At this point, Foster accused the Hattiesburg Dorothy of committing fraud by accepting the check, and he asked her to return the money. When she said she had spent it, Foster and his wife, Sheila, who also worked at the law firm, went to the Ocean Springs Police and pressed charges.

Dorothy J. Anderson of Hattiesburg was indicted, arrested and jailed.

Eventually, some of the facts came to light and local prosecutors dropped the case against the woman. She then filed suit against the Fosters and the law firm, seeking compensatory, bad-faith and punitive damages.

The AttPro/National Liability request for declaratory judgment can be seen here.

Topics Lawsuits Trends Mississippi