Politics & Government
Suffolk Man Injured at Jones Beach Faces Lawsuit From Ex-Attorney
Personal injury lawyer Benedict Morelli says his former client, Mark Perez, still owes him $5.5 million in post-trial legal fees.
WANTAGH, NY – A Suffolk County man who suffered brain injuries while working at Jones Beach faces a court battle as his former personal injury lawyer is suing him over legal fees from a multi-million-dollar post-trial settlement, according to the New York Post.
Benedict Morelli of Manhattan-based Morelli Law Firm in February sued his former client Mark Perez in February for $5.5 million in legal fees after Perez had already paid Morelli $18 million for representing him in his injury lawsuit, the Post reports.
Perez sued and received a $102 million jury verdict in 2019 from Live Nation after a forklift hit a Best Buy booth he was working on at the Jones Beach Marine Theater, causing him to fall and suffer a fractured skull and brain injuries requiring multiple surgeries in 2013.
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The Post reports that Perez ultimately received about $28 million from the settlement, and the $5.5 million went into an escrow account and Perez is fighting to retrieve that money.
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