In auto accident and personal injury cases, we charge what’s called a contingent legal fee. A contingent fee is simply a legal fee that is contingent on (or determined by) the outcome of the case. We don’t charge by the hour in auto accident and personal injury cases.
A contingent fee arrangement is a big benefit for clients in auto accident and personal injury cases. We invest our time, money and expertise to build a winning case and collect for you, and we share in the risk of going forward and pressing your claims. If we lose, we get nothing – we get no legal fee and we write off the cases expenses that we’ve incurred. This aligns our financial interests and ensures that we remain committed to winning for you!
Your medical bills are not covered by the contingent legal fee, however. So it’s important for us to work with you to select doctors and other medical providers that will bill your health insurance or accept workers compensation (if you were injured on the job) or Personal Injury Protection benefits.
And speaking of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits, we do not charge a legal fee on uncontested PIP claims. Some lawyers charge an “administrative” fee to process the PIP claim. We don’t. In about 99% of the cases, the PIP benefits are paid without litigation. Each PIP dollar should go to pay your medical bills or lost wages, not to the attorney. Likewise, we don’t charge a fee on the compensation recovered to repair or replace your car.
Contingent fee agreements must be in writing, signed by you and must state the method by which the fee is to be determined. Our contingent fee is 33.33% for cases settled, mediated or arbitrated; it’s up to 40% for cases that have to be litigated. We do everything we can to get case settled, however, because it’s faster, less expensive and less stressful for you. We’re able to settle about 95% of our cases without going to trial.
In addition to the legal fee, we pay litigation expenses for your case, and we’re reimbursed only upon winning a recovery for you. The litigation expenses are reimbursed from the settlement after the contingent fee is calculated on the gross recovery.
Once the case concluded, we provide you with a written accounting that states the outcome of your case, which you review and approve. The statement lists all the proposed payments to doctors for your medical bills, the amount of the legal fee, the reimbursement of case expenses we’ve paid and the amount of money to be remitted to you for your pain and suffering, inconvenience and other non-economic damages.
We always try to ensure that the client receives more than anyone else. We know that we’re working for you to maximize your net recovery!
If you have questions about the cost of hiring our firm, please call or email us – we’d be happy to talk to you and there’s no obligation. The phone call to get information about your rights is FREE!