| What
are the expected attorney's fees and costs?
Generally,
attorneys that work on personal injury cases do so on a contingency
fee basis. The specific fee will generally be set forth in the
attorney's fee contract.
In addition to the attorney's fees, the attorney will also
generally be reimbursed for all costs expended on the litigation
from the client's recovery.
In most cases, the costs come out of the client's portion
of recovery. For instance, if a total recovery of $100 is
made by the attorney, his fee will generally entitle him to
33 1/3% or $33.33. The client must repay the costs of the
litigation out of the remaining 66 2/3% or $66.66. If the
costs total $5.00, the client will recover a total of $61.66
($100-33.33-5=61.66).
The reason the costs must come out of the client's recovery
is to prevent a conflict of interest from arising. If the
attorney is responsible for paying costs out of his portion,
a conflict will arise when he attempts to save money on the
case by hiring no experts at all or hiring cheap, bad ones.
Additionally, since all an attorney can offer is his time
as a service, if the costs of the case are high and the costs
come out of his fee, he will recover nothing. In this situation,
he has merely acted like a bank to finance the recovery for
the client for free.
There are numerous items that make up the potential costs
in an automobile accident case including:
- Costs
of Copies
- Filing
Fees
- Service
Fees (money spent to have the Sheriff deliver legal papers)
- Any
Medical Expenses Advanced
- Medical
Bills
- Copies
of Medical Records
- Court
Costs
- Long
Distance Telephone Calls
- Travel
Expenses (if necessary)
- Costs
of Deposition
- Costs
for Subpoenas
- Any
Applicable Witness Fees
- Expert
Charges
The above list is only illustrative and is not a complete
list of the costs and expenses needed in a particular case.
Each case is different and what an attorney must or may charge
in one case may differ from case to case.
However, since most personal injury and automobile attorneys
work strictly on a contingency fee basis, if no recovery is
made on your behalf, then you do not have
to reimburse these expenses. The attorney generally bears
the risk of losing these costs if the case provides no recovery.
Most personal injury attorneys will provide you with an
itemized list of costs and expenses incurred during your representation.
In general, a reputable attorney will be careful not to overspend
on your particular case. That way, all the money recovered
will not go to pay attorney’s fees and costs and expenses.
Sometimes, a case is not provable or for some reason not
successful. In those situations, there may be instances where
the costs of litigation will exceed the potential recovery.
Keep in mind that the client is responsible for court costs
and the expenses of litigation. For that reason, it is very
difficult for personal injury attorneys to take on small cases
with a limited potential for recovery.
Experienced attorneys will recognize this early on in the
screening process and avoid taking cases where the costs exceed
the potential recovery. It is very difficult for even an experienced
attorney to tell you up front how much money will be needed
to litigate a particular case. Issues arise throughout litigation
that must be addressed. Therefore, it is virtually impossible
to identify what costs are necessary at the onset of litigation.
| 
