Your retainer agreement will likely explain that the attorney's fee comes from the gross settlement, meaning that it would be 33.33% of the entire settlement amount, not after the medical bills are paid.
Lawyers fees are "off the top" so to speak otherwise lawyers would never get paid after doing all the work to satisfy a clients medical care charges.
Your attorney's fee is off the top of the full settlement amount, always has been. Read your retainer closely. However, just to ruin your day, the retainer is negotiable, the fee percentage and all other terms. Most people don't know this and many attorneys will refuse. I charge 25% on most cases before suit is filed and an answer is received.
So, the attorney fee is likely taken out before medical bills. Any information offered is solely for general informational purposes, and does not create any attorney-client relationship. Neither should any of the information given be construed as legal advice.
Yep probably true, Red teh contract you signed. Plus she gets expenses.. shocker.
The retainer agreement that you signed dictates her compensation (and reimbursement any costs incurred).
Nothing herein guarantees, warranties, or predicts the result of any future legal representation. No attorney-client relationship is formed without the consent of the Law Offices of Todd Rash expressed in a written retainer agreement.
Check the retainer agreement that you signed. In contingency-fee cases, the attorney's fee is a percentage of the net settlement or judgment.
A good lawyer should negotiate the bills down to 5-10 cents on the dollar, but check your agreement. You can always go to fee arbitration.
A contingency fee lawyer should take his/her fee in a personal injury case after the case has settled and the settlement money comes in and the check clears the bank. Unless there is some complication or special arrangement, the fee should be taken at the same time the client receives his/her portion of the settlement proceeds.
The attorney's fees are generally taken off of the total amount (so in your example, 33.3% of the total $25k).
The calculation of the fees is dependent upon the language of the retainer agreement. The attorney's fees are normally taken from the gross proceeds. However, the medical bills could potentially be reduced in order to increase the net proceeds available.
The fees your attorney charged are typical for a personal injury case, but a good attorney will work to get your medical costs reduced if it appears the client is not going to obtain a good settlement. That said, your attorney may have had the medicals reduced and this was the outcome...
If one has questions about contingency fees, one should not have to look further than the retainer agreement which should spell it all out in nice and easy language... with regard to percentages and medicals, there can be many ways to calculate....
It depends on your retainer agreement with your attorney. Generally it is 1/3 of the gross settlement which means 1/3 of the total settlement.
Yes this can happen and does all the time. As an example in Florida if there is $10,000 in BI coverage available from the at fault party, and $5000 in outstanding medical bills, the outcome is that the lawyer gets 1/3 or $3333.33 the doctors get their $5000 and the client ends up with $1666.67.
It's rare but it does happen. Bear in mind that the medical bills paid from the settlement were bills you would have paid otherwise, so a different way of looking at it is that your part of the settlement was $12,000. Before agreeing to the settlement, review the numbers with your lawyer. Some...
It is an unusual case, although it can happen. You should talk to your attorney about the settlement. This often happens when you don't have insurance to pay for your medicals. Your attorney should negotiate your bills down so that you get more money. If you don't like the settlement, take your case to trial. Just understand you may get less...
If you are not happy with your lawyer, you can change at anytime. The other lawyer may or may not be entitled to a fee and that should not dissuade you from changing if you are unhappy with representation. Many lawyers give settlement numbers (i.e., $150,000.00) in order to get client to sign up or keep them happy during the process. No way to give settlement opinion without all pertinent information. Everything is negotiable - bills, fees, costs. Look at website and make a call.
So, the attorney fee is likely taken out before medical bills.
Lawyers fees are "off the top" so to speak otherwise lawyers would never get paid after doing all the work to satisfy a clients medical care charges. That stated, your current attorney is not inherently wrong as he is NOT telling your case is not worth more, but rather YOU have decided you will not do the things needed to establish the greater value the he recommends as your lawyer. In todays computer metrics...
The usual contingent fee agreement gives the attorney 1/3 of the gross amount of the settlement, which means before the liens and expenses are paid. Many times an attorney can negotiate a reduction in the liens depending on who is the lien holder. You should be asking your attorney these questions.
As most of the other lawyers stated, the 1/3 is usually taken out of the gross settlement amount, but you should check the verbiage of the agreement that you have with your attorney. With our cases, once the settlement has been agreed upon we reach out to our clients health insurance & medical providers to obtain any liens. From there we try to negotiate those liens down (typically reducing them by 1/3) in order to have our clients walk away with more money.
However, the lawyer should not take both a fee on the gross recovery, and from the amount paid to the lien holder as well. If the agreement is 1/3, then the lawyer cannot get a fee on both, so that in effect he collects more than 1/3.
Very wierd! In all cases when you settle, the other side makes you sign a release. You had to have signed a document to get that money, and that document would have the exact amount of the gross settlement. You must send your attorney a fax or certified letter, ask for a full accounting and a copy of the release and settlement draft.
I agree with Ms. Sweinberg. Forgive me when I jump on my soapbox for a minute, but nobody gets $200,000 for small injuries. This is just not realistic. In my 20 year career I have heard this many times (it is alwasy frustrating).
No insurance company is going to cough up $200,000 for "small injuries" to settle a case and no jury is going to award that amount for "small injuries." I am sure there is something to distinguish your case from the one you read about.
You can contact the state bar disciplinary board to investigate. It is most likely that the lawyer only got the 20k, which could be verified in his IOLTA account by the bar.