NEWS
Contingency Fees and How They Affect Your Personal Injury Case
Contingency fees enable your lawyer to represent you and demand payment only when you win your case. The agreement binds the contract between a client and a lawyer. Your personal injury attorney receives an agreed percentage of compensation if your claim is successful.
When Are the Fees Used?
Contingency fees are crucial in costly and complex cases and when clients need more resources. Most personal injury lawyers only accept such cases if they establish a way of collecting a judgment or settlement, such as a present liability or an insurance policy. A personal injury lawyer is useful in workers’ compensation cases as well as the following cases:
- Class action lawsuits
- Debt collection cases
- Bankruptcy cases
- Wage dispute cases
- Professional malpractice cases
- Employment discrimination cases
- Sexual harassment cases
How Do Contingency Fees Work?
A contingency fee is a payment that a personal injury attorney receives for victims who receive compensation for their injuries. Instead of charging their clients on an hourly basis, personal injury lawyers receive an agreed percentage of financial recovery they assist victims to recover. The compensation your lawyer receives depends on the complexity of your case and the party responsible for the litigation expenses.
Contingency Fee Setting Variations
Variations to the usual contingency fee arrangement depend on your specific case. Your personal injury attorney helps you to establish whether these variations apply to your case.
Mixed-Hourly Fee
In this setting, your personal injury lawyer may charge you on an hourly basis for the legal services for which you need to pay promptly. The mixed-hourly fee is usually a percentage of the standard hourly charges and enables you to clear the remaining portion after your settlement.
Hourly Contingency Fee
In this agreement, your personal injury lawyer keeps track of the number of hours you spend on your case. Your lawyer’s fees must correspond to the agreed amount. However, as with the usual contingency fee setting, victims won’t owe any amount for legal services unless they recover the compensation on their behalf.
Not all personal injury lawyers utilize contingency fee variation procedures as they aren’t desirable or convenient for every case. Your attorney provides you with reliable insights regarding your specific case and works with you to establish how the legal expenses will be handled.
What Happens to the Legal Dispute Costs?
In most cases, even if your personal injury attorney works on a contingency fee basis, you need to cater to administrative costs unless the contract exempts you from such fees. Some of the litigation costs include:
- Investigator costs
- Court filing fees
- Expert witnesses
- Mediation costs
- Messenger costs
- Travel costs
Before agreeing to any arrangement for contingency fees, victims must review the contract and clarify with their personal injury lawyer what fees need to be paid, even if they lose the case.
Contingency Fee Benefits
Some of the advantages of this agreement include:
- No upfront fees: The essential benefit of contingency fees is that victims don’t have to deal with legal costs as their cases proceed in court. Most people believe that this approach enables those with lower incomes to have access to secure the legal help they require.
- Paying lawyer fees: Another vital benefit of contingency fees is that victims of a personal injury case don’t pay their lawyers any fees, although they may still need to clear administrative expenses.
- Increased compensation: Individuals who work with a personal injury attorney on a contingency fee basis are more likely to recover more funds than they would have if they handled the case on their own, even after their personal injury lawyers deduct expenses and fees.
Attorney fees can be hard to comprehend. Victims who sustain injuries due to the negligence of another party should act immediately. Contact a seasoned personal injury attorney to help you file a successful claim to secure compensation to cater to your injuries.
Harper Harrison is a reporter for The Hear UP. Harper got an internship at the NPR and worked as a reporter and producer. harper has also worked as a reporter for the Medium. Harper covers health and science for The Hear UP.