O.C.G.A. § 34-9-22 (2019)
Penalty for receipt of unapproved fees or for solicitation of employment for lawyer or physician
Any physician, attorney, or hospital which receives any fee, other consideration, or any gratuity on account of services rendered under this chapter, unless such consideration or gratuity is approved by the board or, upon appeal, by the superior court, or any person who makes it a business to solicit employment for a lawyer or physician or for himself with respect to any claim or award for compensation under this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished for each offense by a fine not to exceed $5,000.00 or by imprisonment not to exceed one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
History
(Ga. L. 1937, p. 528.)
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Board has authority to examine and approve contracts between claimants and counsel as to the amount of attorneys’ fees, but it has no authority, statutory or otherwise, to set the fees of the attorneys, nor to examine and approve contracts between attorneys as to the division of their fees when they associate to represent claimants. Feldman v. Edwards, 107 Ga. App. 397, 130 S.E.2d 350 (1963).
Approval prerequisite to collection of fee. - Before attorney may collect a fee from a claimant for services rendered in connection with a claimant’s case, a contract of employment must be approved by the board. Fletcher v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 95 Ga. App. 23, 96 S.E.2d 650 (1957).
RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. - Handling, preparing, presenting, or trying workmen’s compensation
claims or cases as practice of law, 2 ALR3d 724; 58 ALR5th 449.