HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HIRE A LAWYER FOR AN ACCIDENT INJURY CASE?
We are often asked how much does a lawyer charge on an accident injury case. A person who suffers a personal injury in Minnesota can usually hire a lawyer on the basis of a contingent fee – most often a 1/3 contingent fee. That means the person who has suffered the personal injury does not have to pay any attorneys’ fees up front and does not receive bills for hourly work by the lawyer. Instead, the lawyer only charges the client, and the client only pays the lawyer, when their claim is resolved and money has been recovered for them. The lawyer is paid out of the settlement.
NO CHARGE IF NO RECOVERY
If no money is recovered, the client does not owe any legal fees or expenses. Some MN law firms do still require an upfront deposit for costs and even a base fee, but our firm does not.
For example, there are a few cases every year where our lawyers start working on a car accident case that later turns out to not allow a claim because our client’s injuries heal well, and they do not meet the threshold requirement for an injury settlement. If that happens, we charge no costs or fees, i.e. there is no cost to the client. However, we are still willing to take these cases because we have also had many situations where our client initially does not seem to have a significant injury, but later learns that their injury is quite severe.
For this reason, we recommend that you contact us soon after your accident. It allows our lawyers to prepare your case and guide you along the way while your injury is properly assessed. There is no risk to you in hiring a lawyer this way, because if you don’t get a settlement, you don’t pay any legal fees.
NO UPFRONT FEE OR COSTS FOR OUR INJURED CLIENTS
Unlike some law firms, we also pay for all of our clients’ costs until their case is resolved. These costs may include obtaining medical records and doctors’ reports, court filing fees, deposition costs, and investigation costs. We are only reimbursed these costs when money is recovered at the end of the case. However, if there is no recovery for you, we do not send you a bill for the costs we incurred on your case – we write that off.
For each client, we put our contingency fee agreement in writing. The agreement is signed by the client and the injury attorney, and the client gets a copy of the agreement right from the beginning.
If you have questions about whether to hire a lawyer for your accident injury case in Minnesota, or how much it costs to hire a lawyer, please call us for a free consultation.