How much do car accident lawyers charge?
There is no standard fee that a car accident lawyer can charge his client in order to answer the question,How much do car accident lawyers charge? . It is against the law, for lawyers to collude and agree that every lawyer in a State would charge the same fee for the same service. Under Maryland law while there is no minimum fee for a car accident case or automobile accident case, the Courts as well as the attorney grievance commission has made it clear that an attorney fee should not be unreasonable and seems to have defined unreasonable as any fee greater than 40% contingency fee plus expenses. Therefore the answer to the question,How much do car accident lawyers charge? can be complicated
Most people involved in a car accident want to know How much do car accident lawyers charge? Most people involved in a car accident cannot afford to pay an attorney by the hour to represent them in a car accident case. If the lawyer charged by the hour at the going rate of $20.00 per hour to as high as $450.00 per hour and asked for a Retainer up front (for instance $2500.00 up front), most clients would not be able to afford to pay the retainer or the cost per hour.
In order to solve the problem of the little guy fighting the big insurance company, the contingency fee arrangement has answered the question How much do car accident lawyers charge?. A contingency fee means that if there is no recovery in the client’s case then there will be no fee. If there is a recovery in the client’s case than the fee will be a percentage of whatever the client recovers. No money is paid by the client until the end of the case and only paid if money is won.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? In addition to the contingency fee, most, if not all lawyers also expect to be reimbursed, for expenses incurred in order to prove or win your case.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? Many lawyers advertise or tell the clients directly that there is no fee unless they win without explaining to the client that it is their intention of the cases lost, to hold the client responsible for any expenses incurred. The attorney grievance commission of Maryland has made it clear that if the attorney intends to collect expenses from the client even if the cases lost, then the client must be told that upfront both in writing as well as orally. Any statement that there is no fee unless client wins the case is misleading if in fact the lawyer intends to collect expenses of the cases lost. Make sure upfront, that no fee unless you win includes no repayment of fees unless you win.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? A typical fee in a personal injury or car accident claim in Maryland is one third of whatever recovery is made for the client in their case prior to filing suit and if suit is filed than the fee becomes 40% of any money recovered. The law office of Marc Atas makes it a practice to never charge the client more than one third of whatever is recovered as this fee seems more than sufficient. As an example, if a case is settled for $12000.00, and there are $150.00 in expenses and medical bills of $2500.00, then the fee is $4000.00, and the client will receive $5350.00 after payment of the attorney fee, expenses and the medical bills. The percentage is taken from the gross settlement and not a percentage after expenses and medical bills are deducted.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? Many law firms in addition to the contingency fee charge for expenses. Expenses typically cover the cost of filing suit and any other court costs, as well as the cost to take a deposition. Depositions are taken in the case in order to find out what the witnesses are going to say when the case goes to court. Depositions are taken in a lawyer’s office in front of a court reporter who charges for their time in order to take down everything the witnesses sang and prepare a transcript.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? In cases that are actually going to court it is often required that doctors’ and other medical experts that provided medical treatment in your case as well as any experts that are providing any expert opinion in the case are going to have to be paid in order to give their testimony. Often these experts testify by way of a video deposition. Video deposition costs include the court reporter, a videographer, as well as any expert fees for witnesses that you are calling to testify as experts. If you intend to use an expert in court it’s less costly to take the video deposition of the expert and then the cost involves the person typing the transcript which is the court reporter, the person videotaping the deposition which is the videographer, and finally the cost of the expert witness. A typical Doctor deposition can cost between $3500.00 and $10,000.00. If you bring the medical expert into court while you may save the cost of the videographer and the court reporter, the expert will require more money up front because the witness has to appear in court and will have to block out their entire day for your case, instead of fitting you in at the end of the day at his office. A video deposition taken in the expert’s office can involve one or two hours of your experts’ time. Whereas when the expert actually comes the court, they typically have to block out either a half or their entire day and charge you accordingly. So that while a doctor may charge $300 an hour to testify at a video deposition in the bill for the expert may run $1200 or $1500 including the doctors’ preparation, if the doctor comes to court then the fee would be more likely be five or $10,000 after they block off their entire day.
Not all cases involve bringing the doctor in as an expert to testify and in those particular cases the expense of bringing in a doctor is avoided.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? In an auto accident or car accident claim that is of a serious nature, it is often necessary to have at least one if not two or three medical experts to testify in your case. While the attorney may advance those costs as the client likely doesn’t have the money, the ultimate responsibility for those costs are the clients since the money will be deducted from any settlement or jury or court verdict in the client’s case.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? Examples of other expenses that are incurred by the lawyer and can be involved in a personal injury claim would include hiring a private investigator in order to conduct an investigation with all the witnesses, hiring a private process server to serve the defendant as well as serving all the witnesses so that they appear in court.
How much do car accident lawyers charge? Other possible expenses in a car accident claim include accident reconstruction experts, economists, vocational rehabilitation experts, a life care planner.
As you can see there are many costs involved in filing a personal injury car accident or auto accident claim. If lawyers were not willing to take your case on a contingency fee, then most clients would not be able to pursue their car accident claim because they could not afford it. In order to solve the cost problem the contingency fee was set up so that the lawyer would advance all the costs in the case, do all the work in the case and wait until the end of the case in order to get paid.
