When you’ve been hurt in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you may be hesitant to seek the compensation that you deserve because you’re afraid of the costs. By understanding everything involved in personal injury cases and the settlements, you can better understand how much a personal injury lawyer actually makes per case. This article will take a close look at the different types of personal injury cases as well as the financials involved in these cases.
Types of Personal Injury Cases
All personal injuries require 2 things: damages and liability. You must prove that the defendant (the one you believe is responsible for your injuries) is liable for any damages that occur as a result of your injuries. There are intentional torts, ones like assault or battery, and negligence torts, which can be just total accidents. Some personal injury cases include:
- Vehicle Accidents (can be negligence caused by factors such as driving under the influence or mere accidents)
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Medical Malpractice
- Slip and Fall Cases
- Defamation Cases for Libel/Slander
- Dog/Animal Bites
- Intentional Torts
- Workplace Accidents
- Products Liability
- Wrongful Death
- Nursing Home/Elderly Abuse
- Food Poisoning
- Exposure to Asbestos
- Exposure to Toxic Chemicals
The amount of money that a client gets can depend on how severe the injuries and the circumstances that resulted in those injuries. This will also determine how much money the lawyer gets for payment.
Understanding Contingency Fee Percentages
When working with a personal injury attorney, you will come across a contingency fee agreement, which gives the lawyer between 33% and 40% of the settlement or award. You are able to try negotiating this down, but for the most part, a lawyer will get 1/3rd of the money from the settlement (33%). To put this into perspective, if you get $30,000 in your settlement or award, your lawyer will get 10% of this.
In some cases, the lawyer will create an agreement where the contingency fee percentage can vary depending on the point where the case was resolved. This is referred to as a “sliding scale” option. What does this mean for you? Say that as soon as your lawyer sends a demand letter, the defendant’s side will respond right away if you have a good case. There may be some negotiations at this early stage but if they agree to your terms before scheduling a court date, you can pay less than this 33%. However, if the case doesn’t get settled until later on, the lawyer could potentially get up to 40%. This means that you should really consider whether or not it’s worth it to get the sliding scale option because you will end up paying more than the 33% that you may have to pay otherwise.
Knowing About the Costs and Expenses
In many cases, lawyers will cover the costs and expenses incurred by your case then deduct them from the settlement or award. Personal injury lawyers will rarely charge the client for these expenses as they come up. What does this include? Here are some of the costs and expenses that arise in a personal injury case:
- Police reports
- Postage
- Filing fees
- Medical records
- Expert witness fees
- Other experts and investigators
- Depositions
- Transcripts
- Trial exhibits
Depending on how long the trial goes on, these expenses can total between 45% and 60% of the settlement. This means that if you get $30,000 in your settlement and there’s a fee of 40%, the lawyer will get $12,000. If these aforementioned costs and expenses total $4,000, the lawyer then gets $16,000.
Everything Else You Need to Know About a Personal Injury Settlement
Now that you get a rough idea of how much a personal injury lawyer will make, there are some other things that you should be aware of this process. First of all, the lawyers will generally be the people who receive your settlement check before you. This is done so that the lawyer can ensure that they get paid for their services. Since most personal injury lawyers only take contingency cases, this puts them at risk for not getting paid if they don’t receive the settlement check first. As soon as they get the settlement check, they will contact you and offer you an itemized list of what they are deducting from your check. If you dispute these charges, they will put the money aside until the issue has been resolved.
If you had a lawyer and you fired them to hire a new one or decided to handle the case yourself, you will still owe the previous lawyer money. They can put a lien on the settlement for fees and other expenses, potentially suing you and your current lawyer for this money. The exception is that if you get the previous lawyer to waive these fees and get it in writing so you don’t face this lien down the road.
Personal injury cases generally deal with at least 1 insurance company, so your personal injury lawyer will likely try to settle with them. The problem is that insurance companies are notorious for trying to pay as little as possible, which is why these cases can go to trial. The lawyer wants to get this situation resolved as soon as possible for the most money possible, so if you have a valid claim they will keep going until you get the money that you deserve for your case.
Conclusion
If you were injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, hiring a personal injury lawyer is the best way to get the money that you deserve for your injuries and damages. You may think that you can easily handle these types of cases yourself, trying to keep more of your money. Even though a lawyer does cost money, they put in a lot of work to make sure that you have someone who will fight for you. At our firm, we fight for our clients to get them the money they deserve for all of their medical costs and other damages incurred as a result of another person’s actions.
