Whenever someone suffers from a personal injury, he or she may have a case against whoever caused the injury, and may be able to receive compensation to cover medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages that result from the injury. The most common questions that injured people have about filing a claim is whether or not they can afford the necessary legal representation and what they’re going to owe the lawyer if they don’t end up winning their case.
Personal Injury Attorneys and Contingency Fees
The answers to these questions can be found in the common policy among personal injury attorneys to work on a contingency fee basis. If you’ve heard lawyers advertise that they won’t be paid unless you are paid, this is the policy that they are referring to.
Unless you receive a settlement or judgment in your favor, the personal injury attorney will not receive payment for his or her services. If you do receive a settlement or positive judgment in your case, then your attorney will take a percentage of your recovery.
What does it cost to get a legal consultation?
Legal consultations about your case with a personal injury attorney in Pennsylvania are usually free. You should always seek a free legal consultation before hiring an attorney or pursuing your claim. If you don’t know where to begin, this kind of consultation is the best place to start. You can get free advice and guidance and an evaluation of whether or not you have a case. You can trust that the attorney is going to be honest with you here, because working on a contingency fee basis means that no attorney is going to invest their time and resources in a personal injury claim that they don’t think they can win.
What does it cost to build the case?
Once more, the answer here is that you don’t have to pay anything to have an attorney build your case and represent you unless you win your case. This means that all of the expenses of gathering evidence and records, interviewing experts and witnesses, and the various associated court costs and other expenses involved in building a case are not going to be paid out of your pocket up front and will never come back to haunt you. If you win your case, the expenses will come out of your recovery along with the lawyers contingency based percentage fee.
What’s the catch?
You may worry that these claims of free consultation and no fee unless you win are too good to be true and that there is some sort of catch or obligation associated with speaking with a personal injury attorney about your claim. You can rest assured that contingency fees and free consultations are common in personal injury claims and that there is no catch or obligation attached.
Can you trust your personal injury attorney?
Because personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, you can count on them to give you honest advice and treat you with respect throughout the course of your claim. The attorney will not want to pursue a case that he or she cannot win, so if a personal injury attorney says that you have a solid case, you can trust that you do. You should discuss the lawyer’s percentage of your recovery up front so that you know what to expect and ask any questions that you have about your case.