Wisconsin Statutes 895.453 – Payments of chiropractic services from attorney contingency fees
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Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 895.453
- Chiropractor: means a person holding a license issued by the chiropractic examining board. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Following: when used by way of reference to any statute section, means the section next following that in which the reference is made. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Person: includes all partnerships, associations and bodies politic or corporate. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
(1) In this section:
(a) “Chiropractor” means a person licensed under ch. 446.
(b) “Motor vehicle” means a vehicle, including a combination of 2 or more vehicles or an articulated vehicle, which is self-propelled, except a vehicle operated exclusively on a rail.
(2) Notwithstanding s. 803.03, if all of the following conditions exist, fees for chiropractic services provided to an injured person shall be paid out of the amount of fees due to his or her attorney under the contingency fee arrangement made between the person and the attorney:
(a) The person is injured as the result of a motor vehicle accident.
(b) The services were provided by a chiropractor because of the injuries arising from the motor vehicle accident.
(c) The person is represented by an attorney under a contingency fee arrangement.
(d) The person receives an amount under a settlement agreement that is less than his or her damages.
(e) Prior to the person’s acceptance of the settlement agreement, the chiropractor has not been paid for his or her services and has provided written notification to the person’s attorney of the services that were provided to the person.
(3) Except as provided in sub. (4), if the conditions under sub. (2) are met, the distribution of the amount due under the contingency fee arrangement shall be allocated on a pro rata basis between the person’s attorney and each chiropractor who provided services, based on the percentage obtained by comparing the outstanding fees owed to the attorney and each chiropractor to the aggregate outstanding attorney and chiropractic fees.
(4) This section does not apply if any of the following exist:
(a) The chiropractor is eligible for payment for the services provided to the person under any health insurance contract or self-insured health plan.
(b) The chiropractor is eligible for payment for the services provided to the person under any governmental health plan or program, including Medicaid or Medicare.