What Is a Contingency Fee?

Most personal injury lawyers, including our firm, handle personal injury and wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that we only receive compensation if there is a settlement of your accident case or there is a court decision in your favor. Court decisions can include jury verdicts and arbitration awards. In short, our financial success depends on your financial success. Because of this, we’re financially vested in a positive outcome of your case.

In most other types of cases, such as contract disputes and family law cases, lawyers typically handle cases by setting an hourly fee and charging the client based on that rate and the number of hours the firm works. Some firms may want their client to pay a certain amount in advance (called a retainer) before they even start working on your case.

Another possible way of handling fees is to charge a preset amount.

The contingency fee agreement

At our initial interview with you, our lawyers prepare a written contingency fee document. The key terms of the agreement generally include the following.

• The parties to the agreement are the personal injury victim and our law firm.
• The firm agrees to investigate and pursue, if warranted, your personal injury claim or wrongful death claim.
• We agree to advance the costs for any filing fees, court costs, medical reports, expert witness fees, investigative expenses, and all other costs to help show who is liable and the amount of damages you should receive.
• We both agree that our fee is based on a percentage of the recovery. For example, a contingency fee agreement often provides that our law firm receives one-third (1/3) of any recovery. In some instances, such as cases that tend to require longer and more in depth representation like medical malpractice and products liability cases, the contingency fees may be between 40%-45%.
• Generally, the agreement also provides that our law firm receives reimbursement for all the costs and expenses we advanced from the settlement check proceeds or the court award.
• If there is no settlement or award, then you do not have to pay us back/reimburse us for any of the upfront costs/expenses that we advance.

What is a schedule of distribution?

If we obtain a settlement or court decision, we will prepare a “schedule of distribution.” This document is an accounting of what you receive and what we receive. For example, let’s suppose your hypothetical case settles for $100,000 and that we had to advance $10,000 in expenses for taking the deposition of your doctor, paying investigators, and other expenses. For this hypothetical, we will suppose the agreed upon contingency fee is 33%. The schedule of distribution will show the following:

The amount received from the defendants is $100,000.

• The attorney’s fees are $33,333.33
• The court costs of $10,000 are paid to our law firm because we advanced the money.
• The remaining amount which you will receive is $56,666.66.

As a general rule, the amount we receive also compensates us for our time. There are many cases that require hundreds of hours of work, including the following:

• Investigating the cause of the accident
• Reviewing your injuries with medical experts
• Filing complaints against the responsible parties
• Answering the written questions that the lawyers for the defendants present
• Orally questioning the defendants and any witnesses at the formal deposition hearings
• Conducting additional depositions of the medical experts and any liability experts
• Preparing you for each stage of the litigation process
• Reviewing and detailing all of your medical damages, including the medical bills, lost wages, and the pain and suffering you are reasonably likely to have – for the rest of your life
• Reviewing all your financial damages, including working with life planners when accident victims have injuries that are catastrophic
• Negotiating with the insurance companies
• Preparing your case for a jury trial
• Presenting your case before a local jury
• Responding to any motions the defense lawyers may have
• Many other issues, depending on the liability issues and the types of injuries you have

What are the benefits of handling cases on a contingency fee basis?

The main benefit of a contingency fee case is that it greatly reduces the financial risk on your part. By handling your case on a contingency fee basis, we help you focus on getting healthy without the stress of figuring out if you can afford representation. This is critical for clients who cannot earn a living while their cases are pending due to their injuries.

Sometimes, if you do not have health insurance, your doctors and other healthcare professionals may also be willing to accept less than they normally would for their charges. Additionally, many healthcare professionals defer their charges until your case settles or there is a jury verdict.

Atlanta personal injury law firm Harris Lowry Manton is ready to fight for all the compensation you deserve. We use the contingency fee process for many different types of personal injury and wrongful death cases we handle. These cases include car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, film and TV production accidents, medical malpractice claims, birth injury claims, premises liability claims, product defect claims, nursing home abuse and neglect cases, and other types of claims.

Please call us or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We have offices in Atlanta and Savannah. We’re ready to fight for all the compensation you deserve.