After someone has been injured in an accident resulting from another party’s negligence, they can often seek compensation for the costs and impacts of that injury through the personal injury claims process. Many individuals attempt to navigate this process on their own, thinking that they can avoid the cost of hiring an attorney to help them by simply using the at-fault party’s insurance provider’s online website to file a claim. Unfortunately, they are unaware of the information they need to prove their claim and other parts of a process that requires a deep understanding of personal injury law and a knowledge of how insurance companies handle claims. If you’ve been injured in an accident, hiring a personal injury lawyer is one of the most important things you can do to receive the compensation you need. How much does a personal injury lawyer cost? Here is a look at how personal injury lawyers bill their clients and how to ensure you understand the process of paying for your legal team’s assistance.
Do You Need a Lawyer to Help You With Your Claim?
You don’t think your injuries are serious. You’re planning to file a claim against your insurance policy, not another party. You don’t trust lawyers. The at-fault party is so liable that you’re certain it will just be an open-and-shut case, and the insurance provider will pay you millions without you having to prove anything. People use many excuses to avoid hiring a lawyer to help them with their claims. However, there are also many valid reasons why you should hire an attorney, including:- Your injury—even if it wasn’t serious—resulted in medical expenses, missed time from work, and temporary impacts on your quality of life.
- Your injuries were serious and produced permanent disabilities that will likely impair your ability to earn an income in the future.
- You want your auto insurance policy to provide the coverage you believe it entitles you to receive.
- You don’t know how you will afford your medical treatments, and you have no idea how to file a claim.
- You filed a claim with your insurance provider, and they denied you, and you want to appeal that decision, but you don’t know how.
- You were injured in an accident, you think you might have been partially at fault, and you don’t know what your legal actions are.
The Services a Personal Injury Lawyer Provides
A personal injury lawyer and their team of legal professionals can handle the most difficult aspects of your claim, such as negotiating with insurance claims adjusters and gathering the evidence and documentation needed to justify the claim’s value and prove the liability of the at-fault party. They can help you determine the available insurance resources to compensate for the claim. Other services that can be provided include:- Assigning a value to your claim based not only on the monetary costs of your injury, such as medical expenses and wage loss, but also on the permanence of your injury and the ways it has impacted your life.
- If necessary, ensure that a lawsuit is filed within the statute of limitations for your claim. Your case can be settled at any time once the insurance company has received your demand. However, the statute of limitations dictates the maximum time you have to file a lawsuit to have the court hear your case and make decisions about liability and the amount of compensation owed to you. In California, the statute of limitations is two years from most injuries.
- Preparing your case for trial. This includes witness depositions, filing and responding to court motions, attending pre-trial hearings, assisting with jury selection, and much more.
- Helping you to receive your compensation and settle hospital liens placed on the award by your medical providers or group health insurers. California law provides a mechanism where medical providers can treat those who a negligent act has injured. Instead of requiring payment upfront from the patient, the provider can place a lien on their award and collect their fees from the defendant after the claim through a portion of the award for medical fees.
Yes, You Can Afford an Attorney
One of the most common reasons people don’t hire personal injury lawyers to assist them with their claims is that they don’t think they can afford an attorney’s services. However, the contingent fee billing method used by personal injury lawyers is designed to ensure that anyone who needs the assistance of a lawyer has access to that assistance. A contingency agreement allows the claimant to hire an attorney at the start of the claims process and wait to pay for their attorney until compensation has been received for their claim. As explained by the organization Consumer Attorneys of California, contingency fees allow access to the legal system for those unable to afford the cost of the legal process on their own. Without the ability to receive services upfront and pay for those services once compensation is received, many people would not be able to pursue a legal matter, even when there was a compelling reason to do so. The contingency fee also helps to cut down on frivolous lawsuits, as attorneys are only paid for their work on personal injury claims when compensation is received for the claim. It aligns the lawyer’s interests with their client’s interests to ensure that the client has dedicated and responsive legal counsel.What Is Contained in a Contingency Agreement?
When you attend a free case evaluation with an attorney to learn more about the claims process and the services the attorney and their legal team can provide, and you and the lawyer decide to work together on your case, you will be asked to sign a contingency agreement before this work begins. The information contained in a contingency agreement includes the type of services the attorney is offering to provide and a fee structure for payment of those services. Often, the percentage will increase for cases that go to trial to help with the additional costs associated with litigation. The agreement will also discuss any additional fees the claimant can owe outside of the percentage designated for the attorney. These fees are often associated with tasks such as filing a lawsuit, such as filing and copying fees. Contingency agreements must be made in writing. These agreements are legally binding and enforceable to protect the interests of both the claimant and the attorney. Generally, the contingency agreement also includes information about how to terminate the agreement if you no longer wish to work with the attorney on your claim and any fees owed to an attorney who has already performed work on the case.How the Contingent Fee Works
To begin working on your claim, the attorney must have a contingency agreement in place with you. This process can generally happen very quickly, though you are certainly allowed the time to read and consider the agreement and obtain additional information to fully understand it. You will not pay any upfront retainer, and with this agreement in place, your lawyer and their legal team can then begin performing the work of your claim. Your legal team will be assigned and will begin gathering documents to support your claim. While this work is taking place, you will not be billed by the hour for these services. After your claim, the compensation you receive through a negotiated settlement or court award will be sent directly to your attorney. These funds will be placed in a trust. From that trust, your attorney will remove the agreed-upon percentage of the total award designated for their payment through the contingency agreement. They will also work to settle your hospital liens, ensuring that the expenses for your medical treatment are taken care of. The attorney will then meet with you to sign documents to finalize your case. You will receive an accounting of the compensation received, the amount you paid for your attorney, and the amount paid to your medical providers.What Happens if You Lose Your Case?
The contingent fee means that your attorney only gets paid for the work they do on your claim if compensation is received. This arrangement requires injury lawyers to be selective about the cases they represent, only taking those with a high likelihood of winning. If the lawyer chose to help you with your claim, they believe your case has merit. However, there are no guarantees as to which cases will prevail and which will fail to result in a personal injury settlement or court award. If you lose your case, you will likely be responsible for the fees outside your attorney’s pay—such as filing and copying fees—but you will not owe your attorney and their legal team for their services. However, experienced injury attorneys will often take difficult cases. Attorneys regularly work on cases with pre-existing medical conditions, disputed liability, no health insurance, or even when the liable party holds no insurance. Personal injury lawyers understand that multiple sources of liability, multiple insurance resources, at-fault parties arrested and in jail, delayed police reports, and potentially dozens of other challenges can make cases harder. Injury lawyers regularly deal with these challenges so their clients don’t have to.The Bottom Line: Contingency Agreements Make Your Legal Costs Manageable
When someone experiences injury caused by another party’s negligence, they are almost always ill-prepared for the costs of obtaining treatment and missing work, as well as impacts such as pain and suffering. The last thing they need is to also worry about dealing with an insurance company alone or keeping up with the hourly billing of the attorney they’ve hired to assist them with their claim. Lawmakers and court systems across the U.S. understand this and provide the ability for everyone to have the legal counsel they need to participate in the personal injury claims process. As you recover from your injuries, there are plenty of things to worry about. You don’t need to worry about the ability to pay for a personal injury attorney who understands the legal process, can guide you, and perform much of the heavy work involved in your claim.
