What are contingency cases? Do we take them?
A contingency case means the attorney’s fees are contingent, or dependent, on the attorney being successful in the case. In a personal injury case, this means recovering compensation or money damages for you. If the attorney is not successful, then you are not charged any fee. The size of the fee is tied to the size of the award, so the more money the lawyer recovers for you, the more the lawyer makes as well. A typical contingency fee is 30% of the settlement amount, with higher percentages if the case goes to trial or appeal.
Attorneys working on a contingency fee will also usually advance all the costs of the litigation, such as paying court costs to file the case, hiring private investigators or expert witnesses, paying for depositions and the production of documents and exhibits, etc. These fees are also taken out of the client’s settlement, either before or after the attorney-client split. If the lawyer is unsuccessful, you are not responsible for paying those fees, so long as that arrangement is made clear in your agreement with the attorney.
At McReynolds Vardanyan, LLP, we handle all personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis.