Learn which expenses you will be expected to pay for after winning a personal injury claim
Preparing a personal injury claim always involves some amount of expenses. The size and nature of these expenses will depend primarily on the complexity of your case and on whether or not it can be resolved out of court.
The good news is, personal injury attorneys like The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker work on a contingency fee basis, so you will not have to pay for any of the expenses up front. Instead, we will cover all your expenses and only ask to be reimbursed if and when we win your case.
Expenses the Client Pays For
After we win your case and you receive your settlement check or jury award, you will be expected to pay us for the following expenses:
Legal Fees: In personal injury cases, it is standard practice for attorneys to take a percentage of the settlement or jury award as their compensation. The size of this percentage will vary depending on the firm and on the agreement you have with that firm. Most firms will apply one percentage to claims that are settled out of court and another, slightly higher percentage to claims that must be litigated. This is because litigation requires more time and effort on the attorney’s part.
Other Expenses: Your personal injury attorney will run into certain unavoidable expenses when preparing your claim for settlement or litigation. These expenses may include:
- Medical record ordering fees
- Outsourced photocopies
- Court filing fees
- Process server fees
- Deposition transcripts
- Private investigator fees
- Expert witness fees
- Trial exhibit fees
Expenses the Attorney Pays For
Some expenses are considered part of your attorney’s job and should not be billed to you as separate expenses. This includes:
- Outsourced legal research: Research—such as reading up on the case law on a given personal injury topic—is definitely part of your attorney’s job. This work can be outsourced, and it is often very efficient to do so. However, outsourcing is done on the attorney’s prerogative and therefore they are expected to pay for it.
- Meals: An attorney might have a business lunch or other meal with an expert witness or some other professional involved in your case. Business meals can be deducted on an attorney’s taxes but they should not be billed to the client.
- Local travel: A certain amount of local travel is to be expected when preparing a personal injury case. After all, the attorney may need to visit the local courthouse as well as travel to meetings with local witnesses and experts. These kinds of expenses should not be billed to the client.
We Promise Your Expenses Will Be Reasonable
For attorneys who work on a contingency fee basis, padding the expense sheet is a risky business. After all, if they lose the case, they won’t get reimbursed. This means you can trust your personal injury attorney to limit the expenses to what is necessary for building a strong case for compensation.
At The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker, we strive to keep our expenses reasonable and our attorney fees fair. To learn more about hiring us as your personal injury attorney, please call us at 800-333-0000 today.
