Tom McCutcheon – Attorney at Law
Q. What does it mean when a lawyer says “no recovery, no fee”?
Brad
Tuscumbia, Alabama
A. Your question addresses a contingency fee contract. This simply means the attorney gets paid only if he recovers money.
Contingency fee contracts provide a percentage of the damages awarded to the injured party as compensation for the lawyer. A standard automobile accident contingency fee is 40%. More difficult cases such as product liability and medical malpractice cases are based on contingency fee of 50% of the damages awarded. This accounts for the risk associated with incurring costs by the lawyer.
One of the last cases I had, our firm incurred over $140,000.00 in expenses. That was a risk taken based on the facts of that case and in that case it paid off. Not all of them do.
Defense lawyers are paid by an insurance company and they are paid by the hour. Those lawyers are paid no matter what the outcome. The injured party’s lawyer, under a contingency fee contract, is only paid if he wins.
They teach in law school all “tort” cases require a duty, a breach of that duty, and an injury as a direct result of that breach. What they don’t teach in law school, but should, is that it requires a fourth element and that is someone with money to pay the damages in the event you win.
In a state like Alabama where you have mandatory automobile insurance laws you know as a juror that there is insurance on the other side or that lawyer representing the injured party wouldn’t be there.
A contingency fee contract is truly the peoples’ key to the courthouse. It doesn’t require payment up front to hire a lawyer and that lawyer is only paid at the end of the case if there is a recovery.
Buckle up and drive safely.
McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C.
2210 Helton Drive
Florence, Alabama 35630
Telephone: 256-764-0112
Facsimile: 256-349-2529
