How Personal Injury Lawyers Can Offer No Fees If They Lose The Case
Getting injured due to the actions of another person gives you the legal right to sue that person for damages if your case meets certain conditions. To find this out, you can visit a personal injury lawyer. The lawyer you visit will either accept or reject your case, and he or she will likely tell you that you will not have to pay any fees unless you win the case. If you have ever wondered how and why lawyers can do this, here are several important things you should know.
Lawyers Work on Contingency Fees
When a lawyer helps you settle a personal injury case, he or she will discuss fees with you ahead of time. The fees charged are called contingency fees, which means the lawyer receives a percentage of your settlement amount. This means that the lawyer will not know what his or her earnings will be for the case until the case actually settles. The average fee for a personal injury case is between 33% to 40%.
However, you should keep in mind that the fees you pay from your settlement do not include all the fees the lawyer might charge. For example, most personal injury lawyers will charge additional fees for things such as hiring investigators, paying for police reports, and paying for things like postage and miscellaneous office supplies. The contingency fee is based solely on the lawyer's labor for the case.
When you initially receive your settlement, the lawyer will take the contingency fee right from the top. After that, the lawyer will also deduct any extra charges, like the ones listed here. You will then receive the rest of the settlement amount.
A lawyer who does not charge fees unless he or she wins will get nothing if you lose the case, and that is why lawyers thoroughly evaluate cases before accepting them.
Lawyers Are Selective with the Cases They Accept
For a lawyer to offer not fees unless a case wins, he or she must be selective when it comes to accepting cases. In other words, a lawyer would be leery to accept a case that has absolutely no evidence that a person actually caused another person's injuries. Instead of accepting a case with no evidence, the lawyer could simply refuse to take the case.
When a person meets with a lawyer to hire him or her or to learn more information, the lawyer will thoroughly discuss the case with the person. The lawyer will ask a lot of questions and will want to know the exact details of the event. The lawyer will also ask for evidence that the other person is at fault and evidence that you were injured as a result.
To get the most out of the meeting, you should bring all the evidence with you, including copies of your medical bills. The lawyer will need to see all these things before he or she will agree to take your case.
Lawyers that work in personal injury law have to be selective when taking cases, simply because they will only get paid for their work if they win the cases. Because of this, you may need to visit several law firms before you find a lawyer you like and a lawyer that will accept your case.
If you are ready to take legal action for a recent accident of any kind, you should visit a personal injury law firm like the Johnson Motinger Greenwood Law Firm in your area, and you should make sure you are fully prepared for the visit by gathering all the documents you have that prove your case.
