42 SETTLEMENT FOR ACCIDENTS TO AMERICAN SEAMEN

this instance the widow was approached by the runner of a New
York attorney and offered $1,000 in advance if she would give the
attorney in question “powers of attorney’ in the case.
It is not uncommon for an injured seaman remaining aboard ship
to be approached in several ports by these runners, and neither is it
uncommon for a seaman to sign a number of these retainer contracts.
In one instance the seaman had retained three attorneys, each in a
different port, to look after his interests. The attorney last retained
negotiated a settlement for the seaman under a contract to receive a
fee of 50 per cent contingent upon any recovery. Not long after the
settlement was completed it was found that each of the first two
attorneys had also secured a signed contract entitling each to 50
per cent of any settlement, also contingent on recovery. In another
case (No. 177, tabulated under ‘“Compromised actions’) the injured
seaman was treated on the west coast by a physician who in turn
depended upon the attorney retained in the same locality by the sea-~
man for his medical fees, amounting to between two and three hundred
dollars. The seaman, however, proceeded to the east coast, where
he retained another attorney. The last-mentioned attorney completed
 the settlement for the seaman and neither the physician nor
the attorney on the west coast received any remuneration.
Many methods of obtaining information or gaining access to the
confidence of the injured seaman are resorted to by attorneys and
their runners. Several cases were investigated, one where the injured
seaman was taken to a hospital. The seaman was of Spanish nationality.
 A visitor who represented himself as a cousin (but obviously
not of the same nationality) was later found to be a runner for certain
attorneys. In another instance correspondence was shown by relatives
 of the injured seaman in which an attorney had appealed to
June is be informed concerning the injured man in his interest and
behalf.
Information which would be held vitally pertinent to an unprejudiced
 settlement, especially in legal cases, is usually available to
the plaintiff’s attorney while considerable “red tape” has to be resorted
 to by the shipowner to obtain the same information. The
record of treatment given by the Public Health Service in the marine
hospitals, for instance, is extremely important in many cases. Present
regulations, however, prohibit the use of such records without the
signed approval of the seaman. The shipowner has to make application
 for this information on a form supplied by the Surgeon General’s
 Office. If the seaman signs the form the record is then made
available to the shipowner, but in legal cases the seaman is often
advised by his attorney not to give any information. In such cases
the hospital record becomes available only after an order of a court
in the proper jurisdiction has been secured. On the whole, information
 concerning injured seamen is probably more available to
to attorneys specializing in such cases and less available to the employer
 than similar information in any other industry. Certain
hospital authorities informed the representatives of the bureau in
substance that “we have suspected some employees at times of aiding
runners by notifying them of the arrival of injured seamen, but
because of the ease of stepping into a telephone booth and calling
such people without proof of the act, such suspicions could not be
proved as fact.”