HIV-infected nurse gets payment, dissatisfied with size of deposit
LYDIA JAMES*, the nurse who was infected with HIV while working at a hospital in central Jamaica over a decade ago, has said that she is dissatisfied with receiving less than $5 million of the $10.1 million interim payment the Government paid over to her attorney in August.
James told The Gleaner earlier this week that a sum of $4.5 million was deposited in her account a few days ago and followed a $300,000 cheque that was sent to the same account by her attorney, Khadine Dixon, last month.
“I don’t know what fees I owe for her to take so much money from my money. I’ve requested a statement to know what was taken from the sum, and I was told that I have to come into her office and sign in the presence of five persons,” James told The Gleaner.
When called for a comment on James’ concerns, Dixon confirmed that she had asked her client to come in to her office but said that she did not wish to speak with the media about the matter.
James has been living with HIV since September 2007 when she was stuck in the buttocks with a needle by an HIV/AIDS patient on a ward.
She had taken the Government to court on the matter, and a judgment of $39 million was handed down in April this year but is currently being appealed. The Government, however, authorised an interim payment of $10.1 million.
James contacted The Gleaner in September, more than three years after her story was first published by this newspaper, and sought to make it public that she still had not received payment.
But documents obtained by The Gleaner showed that the $10.1 million interim payment had been sent to an account held by Dixon and Associates Legal Practice – the law firm that represented her – on August 28.
LAWYER TO GET 33.3 PER CENT OF MONEY
Dixon later confirmed that the firm had, in fact, received the $10.1 million but said that there was an issue as a result of an oversight and miscommunication where the transaction was concerned and promised to rectify the issue.
On Monday, James received $4.5 million in her account, which she is not pleased about.
The mother of five acknowledged that the contingent fee arrangement with her attorney stipulates that Dixon be paid 33.3 per cent of all sums recovered if settlement is negotiated before commencement of trial or arbitration hearing and/or during or after trial of arbitration has commenced.
“Sums recovered” means all monies recovered from any settlement before or after trial or arbitration before all costs and expenses are paid out.
“It is as if this thing happened to her and not me. Everything that she needed to be done in the past, she sent to me. But for me to get a statement to see what was actually taken from my money, the money awarded to me by the Government, I must come all the way to her office in Kingston and sign in front of five witnesses now?” an incredulous James asked.
* Name changed upon request