Personal Injury Lawyer Contingency Fee Agreements
A contingency fee agreement means that we do not bill hourly for our services in personal injury cases. We also never request any upfront money to pay for any expenses associated with advancing your claim. As a personal injury law firm, we recognize that victims often do not have the financial resources to pay for a lawyer up-front. Victims of injury or the family members in a wrongful death claim, have already suffered many losses, and the last thing they want to think about is incurring more expenses for a lawyer on an hourly basis, and the risk of losing money if the case is not successful.
Our contingency fee retainer addresses this concern. If you lose your case, our law firm receives no fee , and you do not have to pay any other expenses that we have incurred in your case. We will advance all of the expenses associated with advancing your claim. These other expenses or disbursements include expenses for court filings, process servers, court reporters, medical records, and expert opinions. We are often successful in having the insurance company for the at-fault party pay these expenses in addition to the money for your losses. Our fee is based on the net recovery obtained for you. That means we will not charge a fee on the total amount recovered but, instead, we subtract the expenses first (often paid by the insurance company) and then charge a fee of 33.3% on the net recovery.
In Ontario, all contingency fee retainer agreements must be in writing and signed by the client and the lawyer. You will always be given the opportunity to fully review the contingency fee retainer and have any questions answered. We do not charge anything for a consultation, and there is no obligation to hire our personal injury law firm.
Considerations for Victims in Contingency Fee Agreements
Sample Contingency Fee Agreement
Here is a sample of how the fees are calculated in our contingency fee agreement.
Client acknowledges being advised that some legal fee contracts are based on hourly or daily rates, and that hourly rates may vary among lawyers and Client can speak with other lawyers to compare rates. Client has the option of retaining Law Firm by way of an hourly rate retainer. Nonetheless, Client has chosen to employ Law Firm on a contingency fee equal to 33 1/3% of the net recovery of any settlement, verdict or other recovery plus applicable tax. Net recovery means the amount remaining after subtracting disbursements from the gross amount recovered. IF THERE IS NO RECOVERY, NO LEGAL FEES WILL BE DUE TO IACOBELLI LAW FIRM.
For Example: To help you understand how our percentage will be determined, we offer the following sample calculation. This sample calculation does not apply to your case; it is for illustration purposes only. Suppose that before trial, your case is settled for the following amounts (paid as lump sums):
Damages plus interest: $ 100,000
Costs (from the Defendant), including HST: $ 10,000
Disbursements (reimbursed by the Defendant): $ 10,000
Total: $ 120,000
In this example, our fee would be 331/3% of the total damages and interest awarded to our client (excluding costs). The invoice delivered to our client would consist of the following:
Fee of 33 1/3% x $100,000: $ 33,333
HST on our fee: $ 4,333
Disbursements (reimbursed by defendants): $ 10,000
Client Disbursements (faxes, photocopies,
Long distance telephone, courier, etc.) $ 1,000
Sub-total: $ 48,666
In this example, the client recovery will be $71,334 ($61,334 for claim plus $10,000 costs payable by the other side).
Our Firm Represents Injury Victims throughout the Province of Ontario on Contingency Fee
We handle personal injury cases throughout Ontario. If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by the negligence of a person or company, call us for a Free Consultation at 866-234-6093 or request a free Internet consultation.
Our contingency fee retainer addresses this concern. If you lose your case, our law firm receives no fee , and you do not have to pay any other expenses that we have incurred in your case. We will advance all of the expenses associated with advancing your claim. These other expenses or disbursements include expenses for court filings, process servers, court reporters, medical records, and expert opinions. We are often successful in having the insurance company for the at-fault party pay these expenses in addition to the money for your losses. Our fee is based on the net recovery obtained for you. That means we will not charge a fee on the total amount recovered but, instead, we subtract the expenses first (often paid by the insurance company) and then charge a fee of 33.3% on the net recovery.
In Ontario, all contingency fee retainer agreements must be in writing and signed by the client and the lawyer. You will always be given the opportunity to fully review the contingency fee retainer and have any questions answered. We do not charge anything for a consultation, and there is no obligation to hire our personal injury law firm.
Considerations for Victims in Contingency Fee Agreements
- Among the most significant concerns for accident and injury victims is whether they are responsible for any disbursements or fees if there is no financial recovery. This should be clearly expressed in the contingency fee agreement itself. We bold this language in our contingency fee agreement to make sure that it is clear to clients.
- Some Contingency Fee agreements state that the lawyers will also be entitled to keep an amount of money equal to the costs paid by the other party or their insurance company. Beware of these types of retainer agreements as this may result in you paying a much higher percentage of the amount recovered. These retainers are based on a percentage (sometimes 25%) plus costs. The ambiguity with respect to the costs, makes it difficult to know how much the lawyer fee will actually cost you. I would consider retainer agreements with this type of language as a red flag and proceed with extreme caution.
- Remember, most personal injury lawyers will give you a free consultation before signing an agreement. Use this consultation to ask all of the questions that you need to ask to make sure you are making the right decision. If the lawyer is not willing to provide you a Free Consultation or is not interested in answering your questions, you should consider getting another opinion before hiring a lawyer.
- Find out what kind of experience your lawyer has and the results the lawyer has obtained for cases similar to yours. Hiring a lawyer is an important decision so do not act in haste.
- Are you being referred to another lawyer or law firm? When a referral is being made it is not always because that lawyer is the best suited to help you. Some referrals are made in exchange for a referral fee. This should be explained to you and you have a right to know how much is being paid for the referral.
- Make sure the agreement is in writing. The law in Ontario and most other jurisdictions is that contingency fee retainer agreements must be in writing.
Sample Contingency Fee Agreement
Here is a sample of how the fees are calculated in our contingency fee agreement.
Client acknowledges being advised that some legal fee contracts are based on hourly or daily rates, and that hourly rates may vary among lawyers and Client can speak with other lawyers to compare rates. Client has the option of retaining Law Firm by way of an hourly rate retainer. Nonetheless, Client has chosen to employ Law Firm on a contingency fee equal to 33 1/3% of the net recovery of any settlement, verdict or other recovery plus applicable tax. Net recovery means the amount remaining after subtracting disbursements from the gross amount recovered. IF THERE IS NO RECOVERY, NO LEGAL FEES WILL BE DUE TO IACOBELLI LAW FIRM.
For Example: To help you understand how our percentage will be determined, we offer the following sample calculation. This sample calculation does not apply to your case; it is for illustration purposes only. Suppose that before trial, your case is settled for the following amounts (paid as lump sums):
Damages plus interest: $ 100,000
Costs (from the Defendant), including HST: $ 10,000
Disbursements (reimbursed by the Defendant): $ 10,000
Total: $ 120,000
In this example, our fee would be 331/3% of the total damages and interest awarded to our client (excluding costs). The invoice delivered to our client would consist of the following:
Fee of 33 1/3% x $100,000: $ 33,333
HST on our fee: $ 4,333
Disbursements (reimbursed by defendants): $ 10,000
Client Disbursements (faxes, photocopies,
Long distance telephone, courier, etc.) $ 1,000
Sub-total: $ 48,666
In this example, the client recovery will be $71,334 ($61,334 for claim plus $10,000 costs payable by the other side).
Our Firm Represents Injury Victims throughout the Province of Ontario on Contingency Fee
We handle personal injury cases throughout Ontario. If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by the negligence of a person or company, call us for a Free Consultation at 866-234-6093 or request a free Internet consultation.
