Of course, all of this comes at a cost. 

Car accident claims are dealt with by personal injury attorneys. The attorney would charge you for the services provided depending on the case and the payment structure in practice. The standard fees include the contingency fees in most cases, but there are various other expenses that you might end up accruing by the conclusion of the case.

Contingency Fee

This is the most prominent form of fee which many accident attorneys would ask for. Usually called ‘No Win, No Fee’ lawyers, Contingency lawyers would ask for their payments only when the client recovers the settlement money. The share of the contingency fee varies from 33 ⅓ percent (or one-third) to 40 percent of the final settlement amount of the case. In most personal injury cases, you would be asked for just the contingency fee and no other expenses and costs. The situation, of course, might vary from lawyer to lawyer.

However, the Contingency fee is not the only cost the lawyer might charge you in accident claims. There are various additional costs covered under this fee and the umbrella term ‘Other Expenses.’ The following are some additional fees that you might be asked to pay in such a case.

Sliding Scale

As mentioned before, the share of the contingency fee varies as per the lawyer. This depends on the progress your case has made before the settlement. Lawyers make use of a contingent fee arrangement known as a ‘sliding scale.’

The sliding scale decides the lawyer’s share of the settlement. This means the rate charged may vary with varying conditions pertaining to the case. For example, if your lawyer has to file a personal injury lawsuit before the settlement, his share would be standard at 33 ⅓ percent. If the lawsuit has already been filed, the lawyer might ask you for a 40 percent share for the trial. If your lawyer can settle the case solely by negotiations with the insurer, then the contingency fee could be as low as 25 percent.

Simply put, the closer your case is to the trial, the more your lawyer would have to work and hence, the more they would charge.

Flat fee

An alternative form of fee payment, flat fees involve a fixed set of payments the client is asked to make for the attorney’s services. While lawyers may offer you a number of plans, a fixed set of fees is sometimes required. You may find a flat fee charged by an attorney in less complex cases. But generally, in personal injury cases, lawyers do not charge flat fees but contingency fees. 

Retainers

Lawyers might ask you for a retainer, i.e., a certain amount of money upfront, and collect the contingency fee later at the end. Some attorneys charge the retainer fee on an hourly basis. In such a case, you pay the lawyer by the number of hours they have to spend in court or other organizations besides their office. It is helpful if your case involves minor negotiations and not court procedures.

However, you must ensure that once you win the money, they must deduct the amount already paid to them from the percentage sought by the contingency fee. Otherwise, you might be paying a lot more bucks than you actually had to! Make sure you have it all settled in the retainer agreement.

Other fees

There are other fees that you would be required to make that might not be directly linked to your attorney. These include:

a) Filing fees

It is the basic fee charged by the state or federal government in order to process documents and requests pertaining to a case. These would be asked prior to the court procedures.

 

b) Expert witness Fees

This is the fee made pursuant to the witness as compensation for their attendance during the court proceedings.

 

c) Photocopying fees

There are several documents and their copies required at different stages of the court proceedings and negotiations. The cost of creating copies for them is covered by this type of fee.

 

d) Cost of getting copies of medical records

This is again related to the previous costs, in which you would need to have copies of medical records that claim personal injury treatment expenses.

 

e) Postage and travel fees

While engaged in case investigations, the attorney might be required to travel and use courier services, again for which he would charge a fee.

f) Fees associated with depositions, transcripts, and trial exhibitions

These are add-on services that firms may charge, and in fact, there is a per-page rate decided for that. These might not always be informed to you as upfront costs involved, but they would most likely be required in case of court proceedings.

Given the number of costs involved, you might feel like taking a step back if you were planning to hire an attorney. But don’t worry! These costs are negligible and the attorney will look after all of them. Your sole responsibility as a client is to discuss all the clauses of the agreement and seek clarification if you’re not clear with any.