Category: Personal Injury

What Percentage Do Lawyers Take For A Personal Injury Case?

In Kentucky, a personal injury case is one in which one party is injured due to the negligence of another. In these cases, the injured party has the right to compensation from the responsible party. A car accident claim is a common type of personal injury case.

In most states, if the other driver was responsible for the accident, you can file a claim for compensation for any incurred expenses with the other driver’s insurance company. If you feel the insurance company isn’t offering you fair compensation for your injuries after a car accident, you can file a lawsuit against the other driver and the insurance company.

Other types of personal injury cases follow a similar trajectory. Usually, the case starts with an insurance claim and only escalates to legal action if needed. While legal action may be uncommon, personal injury lawyers can help with all aspects of a claim, even if it never goes to trial — and many claimants receive more compensation when represented by a lawyer.

But are they receiving more compensation after fees are calculated? Surprisingly, in most cases, they are. Hendy Johnson Vaughn, PSC, an experienced personal injury law firm in Louisville, KY, shares what you need to know about the typical fee structure for personal injury lawyers and what percentage they generally take from the cases they handle.

How Contingency Fees Work With Personal Injury Lawyers?

It helps to understand that almost all personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. This means that they initially charge nothing and only get paid if they successfully obtain money for their clients. If a lawyer loses a case, then they go unpaid.

Conversely, when the lawyer wins money, they receive a percentage of all money obtained as their fee. What percentage they take can depend on several factors.

As a general rule of contract law, a contract requires both parties to agree to the terms before it can be enforced. Thus, your lawyer must inform you of their fee structure and get your approval — preferably in writing — before performing services for you.

Many states also have explicit laws that require attorneys to disclose their fee structure before performing services. These regulations are often strictly enforced and could result in a lawyer losing their license to practice if ignored.

Expected Personal Injury Attorney Contingency Fee Percentages

In Kentucky, most contingency fees average between 33% and 40%, but there are plenty of exceptions and variations. One of the most common variations is based on how the case ends. Many personal injury attorneys will charge a lower percentage — usually 25% to 35% — for cases that end in a settlement and then increase the percentage if the case gets more complicated.

For example, an attorney might charge 30% before a lawsuit is filed, 37.5% after it is filed, and 45% if the case goes to trial. The middle value may seem strange, but it is common for cases to be resolved via settlement after a lawsuit is filed, yet before the trial begins.

Additionally, some personal injury lawyers will charge different amounts of money for different types of personal injury cases. For example, many personal injury attorneys charge lower contingency fees for workers’ compensation cases than they do for medical malpractice or car accident cases. Some lawyers may charge as little as 10% to 20% for workers’ compensation cases.

Contingency Fee State Regulations

Another reason that contingency fees may differ throughout the U.S. is that some states cap them. For example, Michigan law limits personal injury attorneys to taking one-third of any compensation obtained as a contingency fee. This limit applies to all types of personal injury cases.

Currently, there is a ballot measure in Nevada that would place an even lower limit on contingency fees in the state. If the measure passes, all contingency fees in civil cases would be limited to 20%, the lowest limit in the country.

Fees That Shock The Conscience Of The Court

Furthermore, contract law doesn’t allow anyone to agree to a patently unfair contract. When a contract “shocks the conscience” of the court, a judge may find it invalid. While there is no set value for what constitutes an unreasonable fee, values above 50% are likely to be considered suspect by most judges.

Personal Injury Lawyer Pro Bono Work

Finally, personal injury lawyers sometimes provide pro bono services to a client. Pro bono work usually involves cases where the client is being treated particularly unfairly or is permanently disabled. If you ask a lawyer to work for you pro bono, they may not agree. However, an attorney might offer to take your case pro bono after hearing your story.

Even when a lawyer isn’t taking a contingency fee, that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t need to pay a certain amount by the end of the case. Lawyers who are working pro bono may still require you to pay expenses if they win the case for you.

Those expenses could add up in a complicated case, but they will generally be set values rather than a percentage of your winnings.

The End Result Of Attorney Fees In Personal Injury Cases

In general, if you seek a personal injury attorney to represent you, that attorney will charge a percentage of any money they obtain for you at the end of the case. This percentage is, on average, about 33%. Even with a contingency fee, though, hiring a lawyer usually nets you more money than you would have received on your own.

5 Signs That It’s Time To Switch a New Personal Injury Lawyer

As a client with a personal injury case, you can fire your lawyer at any time, assuming that you are mentally competent. You might owe your former lawyer some money as a result, but that doesn’t mean you have to continue allowing substandard representation. Following are some red flags that should tell you that you need a new lawyer.

Your Lawyer Is Not Communicating With You

Lack of communication is perhaps the number one reason clients fire their lawyers. Your lawyer should update you on your case (without your constant prompting) and respond promptly and thoroughly to your questions and concerns. A terse “yes” or “no” answer shouldn’t satisfy you, no matter how busy the lawyer is.

Your lawyer’s failure to communicate with you on your case might be telling you something. For example, it might be telling you that your lawyer has no news to report because they are not pursuing your case. A large firm might treat you as nothing more than a case number. It might also be that your lawyer has delegated your case to a paralegal or a junior lawyer with whom they rarely communicate.

You Don’t Like Your Lawyer

It might seem frivolous to fire your lawyer simply because of a personal dislike. It might still be the right thing to do, however, for the following reasons:

You and your lawyer work best as a team, with you making the major decisions and your lawyer deciding on tactical matters and executing your decisions. If you two don’t like each other, you’re not likely to work effectively together. If your lawyer doesn’t like you either, they might not give their best effort.
Sometimes, it’s a good idea to go with your “gut feeling.” This isn’t an appeal to magic. Your unconscious mind is a repository of facts that are too numerous to fit into your conscious mind’s limited storage space. A conclusion arising from these hidden facts could surface in your conscious mind as a gut feeling.

Of course, don’t go overboard with this. Don’t fire your lawyer simply because they physically resemble your ex-spouse, for example.

Your Lawyer Has Little or No Trial Experience

Some lawyers possess rich experience negotiating personal injury settlements but do not win at trial. While this might sound good, such a lawyer is not necessarily your best choice. Ironically, this is particularly likely to be true if you plan to negotiate an out-of-court settlement to avoid trial.

This is because insurance companies respect lawyers who have proven the ability to take them to court and win. Without this experience, the insurance company will not respect your lawyer. They might settle your claim, but they will settle it for less than what it would have been worth if you had hired an experienced trial lawyer whom insurance companies know and fear.

You’ve Discovered a Conflict of Interest Involving Your Lawyer

A conflict of interest occurs when your lawyer would benefit from doing something that would harm you or not doing something that would help you. Following are some examples of conflicts of interest in personal injury law:

Your lawyer represents both you and the defendant in the same case. The most common form this conflict takes is when a lawyer represents a couple seeking an ‘amicable’ divorce that later turns rancorous.
You are suing a company, and your lawyer is a shareholder in the company.
Your lawyer has a close personal relationship with the opposing party.
Your lawyer wants to charge you using billable hours rather than the contingency fee arrangement that most personal injury lawyers use.

There are hundreds if not thousands of ways that a conflict of interest can arise,

Your Lawyer Has a Bad Reputation Among Clients or Peers

Check your lawyer’s reputation on the internet and at sites like Avvo.com and Martindale-Hubbell. Ask around about them and if you have the social connections to do so. It’s best to do this before you hire the lawyer–but hey, better late than never!

A Trusted Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You

An experienced personal injury attorney can make all the difference in the success of your claim. Switching lawyers isn’t something that you should take lightly, but it might be in your best interest. If one of the above signs applies to your situation, making a move could be the right choice.

Step-by-Step Guide for Filing a Personal Injury Claim

The timeline of a personal injury case can vary greatly depending on the way the accident happened, the seriousness of your injuries, the defendant’s attitude toward settlement, and the overall complexity of your case.

The steps below are general guidelines that you can refer to, even though your claim will probably differ in some respects. It’s also best to set up a consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer to ensure your claim is filed appropriately.

Obtain Medical Care

Nothing is more important than prompt medical care, for both medical and legal reasons. Even if you feel fine, seek immediate medical treatment if you have any doubts whatsoever. Some injuries, such as certain types of head injuries, don’t always generate immediate symptoms.

If you delay seeking medical treatment, you are inviting the opposing party to claim that your injuries didn’t occur until after the accident.

Prepare Appropriate Documentation

Prepare and retain the following documentation:

Medical records: All treatment-related documentation related to your injury.
An accident report or police report, if one exists. If your injury occurred at work, file a report with your employer.
Photographs of your injuries and the scene of the accident. In a car accident, the positions of the cars on the road can be particularly revealing.
Witness statements. Get their contact information and, later, written statements.
Your insurance policy documents.
Any correspondence with insurance companies Record any telephone conversations.
Expense receipts, to document your out-of-pocket expenses.
Documentation of missed work and lost income.
Your journal detailing your pain levels, emotional distress, difficulties in daily activities, and general quality of life.
Legal documents such as retainer agreements, court filings (if applicable), and correspondence with your lawyer.

Since every case is different, keep any other documentation that you might need later.

Schedule a Legal Consultation

A consultation with a personal injury lawyer won’t cost you a dime, and they will almost certainly give you an honest evaluation.

Because of the way personal injury lawyers charge for their services, they have no incentive to exaggerate the value of your claim. If they offer to represent you, it’s because they believe in your claim.

Investigate the Accident and Your Injuries

Let your lawyer handle this with your cooperation. Your lawyer will probably request your medical records from the hospital, for example, or speak with an expert about your case.

Some of the critical evidence might be in the possession of the at-fault party or even a third party (cell phone records, for example, if the at-fault party was texting while driving).

Prove Negligence

Not every personal injury claim is based on negligence, but most are. To prove negligence, you need to prove the following elements of your claim:

The defendant owed you a duty of care.
The defendant breached their duty of care to you.
You suffered a physical injury.
The defendant’s breach of duty caused the injury you suffered.
Your injury was a foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s negligence.

In many personal injury cases, only one or two of these elements will be at issue.

Begin Settlement Talks

If your claim is reasonably strong, the at-fault party (or their insurance company) is likely to prefer settlement to courtroom litigation. Let your lawyer do the negotiating for you because insurance adjusters are savvy negotiators.

File a Lawsuit

You may or may not need to file a lawsuit. You certainly do, however, if the statute of limitations deadline is looming. In Illinois, for instance, you typically have until two years after an accident to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Attempt Mediation

If you have filed a lawsuit, the judge is likely to push for mediation. Even if not, participating in mediation might result in an otherwise unavailable settlement.

Go to Trial or Sign a Settlement Agreement

Statistically, the odds are good that you’ll end up settling your claim. Taking your claim to trial can delay the resolution of your claim. However, make sure your lawyer has a good reputation for winning at trial.

Ironically, this reputation can keep you out of court, as it can encourage the opposing party to settle rather than face your lawyer in court.

Do You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

You don’t always need a lawyer to pursue a personal injury claim. If your claim is large or complex, however, the odds are good that you will end up better off with one than without one, even after you pay your legal fees. Don’t be shy about seeking a free consultation.