Big players in smaller markets can be a target, or on the other hand may be arrogant and settle cases rather than try them, simply because of the inventory of new cases coming in.  Whether this was the case with Justine Thompson is unknown.

What is known is that she had a case, settled the case, and after everyone involved was paid, she was left with $ 6.60 in settlement.  "When Justine Thompson was forced to retire from her state job after 28 years because of a nasty fall she took in an icy parking lot, she figured she had protected herself by hiring a personal injury attorney.

That was before the accounting of the $35,000 settlement arrived in the mail from Cellino & Barnes. The lawyer’s share was $10,000.

The law firm repaid itself another $3,600 in expenses.

New York took $21,000 to repay workers’ compensation. Justine Thompson’s share? A check for $6.60. ""Two attorneys, one from Rochester, another from Syracuse filed a malpractice suit on her behalf against Cellino & Barnes, its successor, The Barnes Firm, and Michael J. Cooper, the Barnes Firm lawyer who represented Thompson. “This lady is the poster girl for what’s wrong with this profession,” said S. Robert Williams, the Syracuse lawyer who filed the suit with Patrick J. Burke of Rochester.

It’s not the kind of settlement that television ads for The Barnes Firm boast about, claiming $150 million for auto injury clients alone over the last few years. "