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Personal Injury Attorney Fees In Florida
Car Accident Attorney Fees and Other Negligence Related Attorney Fees Are Negotiable
The Florida Supreme Court, as the governing body over the conduct of lawyers, has established percentages that attorneys may charge as the attorney’s fee in contingent fee personal injury cases. Normally, an attorney may only charge a maximum of one-third of the first $1,000.000.00 of the gross proceeds of recovery as a fee if the case settles prior to an answer to a lawsuit being filed by the defendant.
So if a case settles before a lawsuit is filed or after a lawsuit is filed but before the defendant files an answer to the complaint, then the maximum fee, say based on a $60,000.00 settlement, would be $20,000.00. That does not include any costs the attorney has expended during the representation. If a case is filed and either settles after the defendant files an answer up through trial, the maximum fee the attorney can charge on the first $1,000,000.00 of recovery is 40%. The maximum fee percentage allowed decreases with recovery over $1,000,000.00.
Depending on the facts of the case, your personal injury attorney may agree to take less than the customary percentage allowed under the law. However, if the case is very difficult (liability or damages will be hard to prove) or if it does not appear that the amount of recovery will be significant, then it is unlikely that the attorney would agree to reduce the fee.
Read: How much can you get for your slip and fall?
What Is a Reasonable Contingent Attorney Fee In a Personal Injury Case?
According to the Florida Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct (4-1.5), in cases involving personal injury the amounts below are presumed to be a reasonable fee:
Note: You and your attorney may agree to a lesser percentage than those listed above. Also, these percentages relate to the time before the filing of an answer or the demand for the appointment of arbitrators or, if no answer is filed or no demand for appointment of arbitrators is made, the expiration of the time period provided for such action. Meaning, the fee increases, after this period or your attorney files an appeal (this information must be included in the signed fee agreement).
Get A Creative Personal Injury Attorney Fee Arrangement For Your Car Accident, Slip and Fall or other Negligence Case
Over the years, we have entered into creative personal injury attorney fee relationships with our clients where we agreed to take less than the customary fee. For example, if a client has attempted to settle a case on their own and has received a $3,000.00 offer, which they didn’t accept, we might agree to accept only one-third of any amount we obtain over $3,000.00 so as not to penalize the client for hiring us. However, we are sometimes reluctant to accept those terms if it means a lawsuit must be filed to attempt to obtain recovery greater than $3,000.00. That’s because the case may have many problems to the point where recovery over $3,000.00 is unlikely.
Another example of being creative with our attorney fees is where, in our opinion, the case is not that good. We may agree to forego a fee on the amount a client was offered by the insurance company if the client agrees to pay some or all of the court costs, such as filing fees and court reporter fees. Filing and service of process fees can easily be $500.00 or more in Florida. In other words, if the client agrees to take some of the risk by paying for some or all of the costs, (usually in car accident cases or slip and fall cases) we are more likely to reduce the percentage or at least not take a fee on the amount a client was offered before we became involved in the case.
Likewise, if the case is a very substantial one and a large settlement is likely to occur very early in the process, we will likely agree to accept less of an attorney fee than is customary.
There are other situations where we may agree to work on a contingent fee that is less than what is customary. We make the decision to accept less than the customary fee on a case-by-case basis.
About Alan Sackrin?
Since 1982, Alan Sackrin has represented clients throughout Florida in recovering monetary damages for their personal injuries. Alan is a Board Certified Civil Trial Expert who has spent years evaluating accident facts, applying the law, and has effectively asked juries to render favorable verdicts for his clients. To learn more about Alan Sackrin’s qualifications as a Personal Injury Lawyer, see his About Me page.
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