If you have suffered a personal injury, you are likely already facing financial pressures. Medical bills are piling up and your injury may be inhibiting your ability to meet your job requirements. You may have reasonable concerns about the cost of hiring an attorney to represent you.
Fortunately, personal victims may hire an attorney without paying anything upfront. Many personal injury attorneys offer services on contingency fees.
This allows you to defer paying legal bills until you resolve your case. the legal costs in a contingency fee arrangement will be a percentage of your compensation.
If you lose your case, you don’t owe your lawyer anything. We urge you to reach out to a lawyer as soon as possible, as you only have a limited time to file your personal injury case.
If you call Rice, Murtha & Psoras right now about your personal injury claim in Maryland, you can get your first consultation for free. Our experienced Baltimore personal injury attorneys will sit down with you to discuss all of your concerns about payment, the case itself, and how much you stand to gain. Contact us at our offices at (410) 694-7291 to get started today.
How Contingency Fees Work for Personal Injury Lawsuits in Maryland
When you and your lawyer agree on representation, your lawyer will offer you a letter. This letter outlines the nature of the representation and how you will pay for it.
In the case of personal injury lawyers, the letter often indicates that the cost of the legal services will depend on the proportion of the damages that you receive through a decision or settlement. This is what is called a “contingency fee.”
Contingency fees are set percentages of your recovery that are set aside to pay for your representation. The percentage is a flat rate that reflects the amount of time and energy that your lawyer devotes to your case.
Contingency fees typically range anywhere between 25% to 40% of your settlement or damages awarded. While this may seem high, remember that your lawyer only benefits proportionally compared to what you receive in your case. In other words, the better your lawyer does, the more you get paid.
Some contingency fees will adjust on a sliding scale depending on the length of time that your case takes. This represents the amount of time that your lawyer will spend on a case that lasts longer in the process.
For instance, the contingency fee for your case might be 25% for cases that settle before filing, 33% for cases that settle after filing or during discovery, and 40% for cases that settle during the trial or reach a decision.
Bear in mind that the value of your compensation is likely to increase the further you pursue your case. Settlement offers will increase over time, but you will always stand to gain the most compensation from winning a decision in court.
How Much Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Charge?
The great news is a personal injury lawyer is not going to charge you any fee upfront. Attorneys that handle personal injury claims will charge based on a contingency fee. That means the fee is contingent on the amount of money that is recovered from the at-fault or liable party.
The contingency fee structure is especially beneficial to injury victims as they have already suffered after the injury and may have mounting medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses associated with the accident.
What Do You Owe if You Lose Your Case?
No one wants to think about the possibility that you might not succeed in your personal injury lawsuit. However, the reality is that not every plaintiff wins their case. The good news is that contingency fees still apply when you don’t win anything. In other words, if you lose your case, you owe your lawyer nothing in contingency fees.
If you settle your case before you get to a decision, the contingency fee will be a percentage of the settlement payout rather than the damages awarded.
For this reason, your attorney will be sure to consider your settlement offers with an eye on the big picture, just like you. Never accept a settlement offer without having your attorney review it first to make sure it is fair.
There are other administrative costs that may come up along the way, such as printing and filing fees and compensation for expert witnesses.
However, these costs are small in comparison to the value of legal representation, which makes your case much more likely to return lucrative compensation.
When Should You Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer in Maryland?
Obviously, your health should be your first priority. We urge you to seek medical attention immediately after you sustain a personal injury.
The only way to quantify your recovery in a personal injury suit is to identify your specific injuries and receive a prognosis for your recovery.
Once you have sought medical attention for your injuries, you should look to contact an experienced Ocean City personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
This is because you will have to abide by a statutory time limit when filing your case. In Maryland, personal injury plaintiffs only have three years to file their lawsuit.
The clock starts running on the date of the incident that caused the injury in question.
If you miss the deadline for filing your case, you won’t be able to recover anything for your case, so it is critical that you speak to an attorney as soon as possible if you are interested in pursuing compensation.
How Do You Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer for Free in Maryland?
The best way to begin the process of legal representation is to reach out by phone to a Maryland personal injury lawyer to schedule an appointment.
At Rice, Murtha & Psoras, we offer free initial appointments with our esteemed lawyers. In your first appointment, you can discuss your case, your potential recovery, the services available to you, and the potential for a contingency fee structure, all for no charge.
Do You Believe You May Have a Personal Injury Case? Call Rice, Murtha & Psoras for Free Today
At Rice, Murtha & Psoras, our skilled Rockville personal injury attorneys offer complementary first appointments to listen to your concerns and to give you straight answers about your case. Schedule yours today by calling (410) 694-7291.