About Catherine
Catherine Lesinski, Senior Case Manager | Email Catherine
Catherine, Senior Case Manager at Precision Resolution, is a veteran paralegal with 18 years of experience, primarily focusing on personal injury for 11 of those years.
A Louisiana native, she attended the University of New Orleans and Georgia Piedmont where she earned her paralegal degree and served on the Paralegal Studies Advisory Committee until 2018.
Known for her passion in dissecting the details, Catherine excels at preparing complex arguments in her current role, bringing a meticulous and strategic approach to resolving liens.
A Quick Case Study: Digging a Little Deeper
Alabama-based trial lawyer Jeremiah Hodges, of Hodges Trial Lawyers, PC, came to Precision Resolution after his law firm was informed that they were denied a lien reduction for their client.
Below, learn more about the case and hear from Jeremiah on why he chose Precision and how Catherine helped his client with a lien reduction of close to 90%.
About the Case:
The plaintiff in this case had a pre-existing spinal fusion. Years later, the plaintiff had new persistent spine pain and sought an evaluation from their doctor. An MRI revealed that the plaintiff would require surgery to lengthen the fusion of the spine to make it more stable and relieve their pain. However, three days after this diagnosis and before the surgery was scheduled, the plaintiff was the victim of a car accident, resulting in acute spine pain.
Several months later and separate from the acute spinal injury, the plaintiff went on to have the spinal fusion revision surgery that had been recommended before the crash. However, the plaintiff’s ERISA plan wanted to be reimbursed for the revision surgery even though it had nothing to do with the injuries sustained in the car crash. From their perspective, it made sense that the spine pain from the crash required the revision fusion surgery.
In addition to reviewing the ERISA plan documents to verify the plan rights, along with any reduction obligations, an important part of our job is to untangle complicated treatment facts through our independent research. Based on the evidence, we were able to make strong arguments to remove those expensive surgical costs from the lien.
However, before we had a response, the lien agent unexpectedly left the company, leaving the file in limbo and resulting in unexpected delays. It took diligent efforts to reach the right personnel who could escalate and expedite the response, so we could get the final lien resolved. Had the plan just agreed to accept the attorney’s original reduction offer, they would have received a higher reimbursement amount.
I’m glad the lien agent’s refusal to extend a courtesy reduction caused the attorney to reach out to us for help and we were able to save the plaintiff more of their hard-earned settlement.
The People of Precision – Catherine Lesinski, Senior Case Manager
Precision Resolution: How long have you been working in lien resolution?
Catherine Lesinski: I moved to Buffalo in the fall of 2018 and started with Precision Resolution in November.
PR: What led you to specialize in this field?
CL: Before moving to Buffalo, I worked as a personal injury paralegal in Georgia. I attended a GTLA [Georgia Trial Lawyer Association] paralegal seminar that included a lien resolution company presentation. Until then, I didn’t know that it was a best practice to reach out to our plaintiff’s health insurance carriers regarding their potential lien rights; I had only known to be reactive if lien letters came to us. The liens I typically dealt with related to physicians who treated our plaintiffs. I found dealing with health insurance liens very confusing and had no idea what I was doing.
When I moved to Buffalo, I learned from [Chief Operating Officer] Paul Isaac Jr., who was a family friend, that Precision was looking for a paralegal case manager. When I interviewed with the company, I wasn’t sure if lien resolution was a practice area that I would understand or excel at. However, leadership believed in me and explained that, given the fact that it’s such a niche practice area, they were well prepared to train me in anything I didn’t know.
There’s so much variety in this field — in cases and working with law firms across the country — that my interest and excitement in helping plaintiffs has never plateaued.
PR: What do you find most rewarding about helping clients navigate the resolution of their liens?
CL: We know that no one can change what has already happened to the plaintiff, as it relates to their injuries and losses — not only to them but for their families too. As a paralegal, I appreciate the years it takes for our law firm clients to advocate and fight for a plaintiff’s compensation. The overpayment of health insurance liens happens so often. It is most rewarding for me to help the plaintiff keep as much of their hard-earned compensation as possible in the end.
PR: What’s one case or client success story that stands out to you? (Without violating confidentiality, of course!)
CL: The ones that always stand out to me have the same basic issue: our law firm client is not aware of what can and should be challenged on a lien, given the unique facts of each case. Our clients live and breathe the case for so long, and they have become so accustomed to arguing their position, that they may not see the forest through the trees; but we have “drone vision,” so to speak.
Our team is collaborative, and we can bring our legal backgrounds and case experiences to each other to strategize and tackle tough lien issues.
For most cases, we put in a lot of research hours on the plaintiff’s medical conditions, injuries, and medical treatment to be able to put together a simplified factual picture that we hope will be understood in an agreeable way. We also have accumulated so much insight on our readers and what agency-language they customarily speak, that we can recalibrate along those lines as needed.
I recently worked with Ajka [Kudic, Director of Lien Operations] on a medical malpractice case where I was finding it very difficult to simplify and explain a complex set of facts regarding a plaintiff who suffered a series of strokes that were not diagnosed or treated in a timely manner. There was so much riding on whether the reader would be able to understand the nuances involved in the case because it was massively complex. The first attempt at reducing the lien was not successful. For us, that’s not unusual, and we were ready to try again. However, our client was not immediately convinced it would be worth another delay.
Ultimately, with Ajka’s help, some perseverance, and our client’s trust in our recommendation, the case resulted in a big success for the plaintiff, which, in turn, makes our law firm client look good too. Those are the most rewarding cases, and they happen often!
PR: Let’s talk about the company a bit. What’s the best part of working at Precision?
CL: I love our team! Leadership has hands-on experience with every aspect of the staff and case management roles within the company. For instance, at one point or another, everyone has phoned the Medicare recovery call center. They also slowly curate the right team members and encourage collaboration efforts while allowing for a level of autonomy. The company understands work-life balance, which keeps me fresh and energized when dealing with so many challenging cases.
PR: How would you describe the company’s approach to client service?
CL: The respective background of our team members is, that at some point, every one of us has been a “client” in that we come from the law firm life. We can understand what their day-to-day perspective is like, and we approach ourselves (and our needs to resolve the case) in such a way that we do as little to burden their load as possible.
PR: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to attorneys about liens and structured settlements?
CL: The best advice I can give is to get us involved as early as possible. These issues can take a long time to resolve—much like their cases. So, if we can avoid any further delays, the higher the plaintiff’s satisfaction will be with the law firm.”
PR: What industry trend do you think will shape the future of settlements and lien resolution?
CL: I am concerned that health insurance lien recovery agencies will attempt to bring in and rely upon AI [artificial intelligence] to help them evaluate relatedness issues or rights. There is an AI feature on the Google search page that is already proven to be incorrect on some to the research I have done regarding both laws, rights, and medical information. With AI becoming more prevalent, reliance upon its questionable accuracy is a concern that lien resolution will become a greater fight and challenge.
PR: Moving into some fun questions. What’s something most people don’t know about you?
CL: My exact age.
PR: If you weren’t in this field, what career would you have pursued?
CL: Designing and building wood furniture.
PR: How do you unwind outside of work?
CL: Enjoying restaurants, gardening, and attempting handywork around the house.
PR: What’s one book, podcast, or resource you’d recommend to professionals in this industry?
CL: TikTok is actually a great resource with professional content and insights on health insurance types, rights, and plan nuances.
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