If you have reason to bring a personal injury case against a person or entity, that means you allege they harmed you. You will need to collect enough evidence to prove that if you hope to get some money out of the deal. That’s why you need to get yourself a competent lawyer. You likely can’t win a lawsuit without one.
It’s never clear how much money you’ll get from a civil lawsuit, if any. Assuming you do get some money via a settlement or a jury’s verdict, you must also pay your lawyer out of those winnings if you set up a contingency payment plan. Lawyers might take 30%-40% in personal injury cases. That may seem like a lot, but it’s the industry standard.
Should you ever have a payment plan that’s not contingency-based if you sue someone, though? It’s worth talking about, so let’s do so right now.
How Civil Lawsuits Work
First, let’s talk about how civil lawsuits work. Let’s say you feel that a person or a business entity harmed you. You can tie their action, or inaction, in some cases, to physical harm that you sustained. In some instances, you might also allege this person or company harmed you, but not physically.
You can find a competent lawyer who does civil cases. Once you explain to them what happened, they will decide whether to take your case on or not. If they agree to represent you, that probably means they feel you might collect some money based on what you say happened.
The lawyer’s investigator will try to uncover as much evidence as possible that demonstrates your version of events that led to an injury or illness. Then, you will see whether the defendant wants to settle.
Often, they will. They will usually follow their own lawyer’s advice. If they feel that you do not have enough evidence to prove that this person or company harmed you, then they might go to trial instead.
That’s risky, though. If they wait for a jury’s verdict, and the jury sides with you, they may award you more money than you might have originally wanted. That’s why many civil cases end with a settlement either before the trial starts or if the defendant sees things going against them.
How Does a Contingency Payment Plan Work?
You need to pay your lawyer if you win your case or get a settlement offer. However, if you have a contingency payment setup with your attorney, then you will not have to give them any money if they don’t either get you a settlement or win your case via a jury’s verdict.
Most individuals who want to sue someone choose to use a contingency payment plan. That’s because they may not have very much money, and if they decide to pay their lawyer via some other means, they might lose their case.
That means not only will they not have any money coming from a settlement or a jury’s verdict, but they will also have to pay whatever the lawyer charged. You can end up in a worse financial situation than before the trial began.
Civil lawyers understand this. That’s why, if you see a TV commercial advertising such an attorney’s services, you might hear them mention they don’t get any payment if you don’t get some money. That’s their way of letting you know that they will work on contingency. It’s expected in this area of the law.
Other Ways You Might Pay Your Lawyer
You can always pay your lawyer in other ways. You might pay them an hourly rate. That’s a straightforward interaction. You set an hourly rate when you and the lawyer come to terms. They will bill you when they calculate the total number of hours they spent on your case.
As you might expect, though, that number of hours can skyrocket very quickly. There’s no telling how long a lawyer might spend working on your case. You might calculate a certain amount that you think you’ll pay your lawyer in one of these civil trial situations, and that figure may turn out completely wrong.
You can also pay your lawyer a flat rate. Again, though, that doesn’t much benefit you in personal injury cases. You must pay that rate regardless of whether your lawyer gets you a settlement or wins your case. You’re potentially setting yourself up for both the loss of what you’re paying the lawyer and a loss at trial if the jury finds in the defendant’s favor.
Some entities have lawyers on retainer, but that doesn’t make much sense in a civil trial. In most instances, you have the contingency option, the by-the-hour option, or the flat rate option when hiring an attorney for your civil trial.
Does It Ever Benefit You if You Have a Different Payment Plan in a Civil Trial?
Unless you have some very unusual circumstances, it does not make much sense for you to ever have a payment plan other than contingency when you are hiring a lawyer for your personal injury trial. Any of those other payment structures guarantee that you must pay your attorney some money, but you have no such guarantee that you will see any cash from the civil action’s results.
Most civil lawyers will steer you in a contingency payment plan direction. If you try to tell them you want some other payment method, that will likely surprise them. They might spend some time trying to talk you out of it.
Setting up a contingency payment plan remains standard practice in this area of the law for the reasons we’ve explained. If you have a civil trial coming up, there’s only one time you shouldn’t pay your lawyer by contingency. That’s if you’re the defendant in the upcoming trial rather than the plaintiff.
If that happens, then you might pay the lawyer defending you a flat rate or hourly rate instead.
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