Posted in Negotiating a Settlement
by John

If you decide to have legal representation for your case, one of the biggest things on your mind has to be how much money a lawyer is going to take out of your potential auto accident settlement. Unfortunately, there is no one easy answer for this. The amounts vary from person to person, firm to firm, and state to state. A San Antonio lawyer may charge more than one from Sacramento etc, making it very hard to give an estimate for all areas of the country. In most cases, if you are trying to recover money, you will be able to obtain a lawyer on a contingency basis, but if you are a defendant in a case you will be charged an hourly rate.

If you’re trying to recover money in an auto accident settlement and you’ve decided to enlist the help of an attorney, the first thing you should do is set up a free consultations with numerous car accident settlement lawyers. During this, the lawyer will go over your case with you and any fees that he will charge. In most cases he will work on a contingency basis. If the case is handled out of court, the lawyer usually takes somewhere in the vicinity of twenty-five percent of your total settlement. If the case ends up going to trial, these fees can jump to anywhere from thirty-three to forty percent of your overall reward. Thirty-five percent is one of the most common amounts taken.

This is a large chunk of your settlement, so make sure that you think hiring a lawyer will be worth the money he will ultimately take out of your settlement. The good news is that since the lawyer is going to be paid on a contingency basis, he has a big incentive to fight for your case and get every extra penny out of it that he can. The fees is also negotiable in many circumstances and if your case promises to have a big settlement, a lawyer may take it for a lower cut because the potential reward is much higher. Several states also have laws that dictate the fees that many lawyers can charge, some don’t allow attorneys to charge over 40% contingency fees.

Be careful and pay attention during your free consultation though. Sometime even though you’re paying a contingency fees there are other fees that you are required to pay regardless of win or loss. Certain motions, like filing the court case, take some money and the lawyer may require you foot the bill for these up front.

If you’re unlucky enough to be a defendant in an auto accident case, chances are you will have an attorney that is going to charge you per hour. This rate varies from lawyer to lawyer as will the amount of hours that are spent on your case, making coming up with an overall number difficult.

Ultimately, in auto accident settlements lawyers usually get about twenty-five percent of your total claim if you settle out of court and thirty-five percent of it if your case goes to trial. Always keep this in mind before you decide to take the leap and hire a lawyer for your auto accident injury settlement.

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