Imagine that you are seriously injured in a car accident through no fault of your own. You are rushed to the hospital, where the doctors piece you back together with several surgical procedures. You don't know if or when you will be able to work again. The medical bills are piling up. You are falling behind on your mortgage, bills and car payments.
How can you afford to hire an attorney at a time like this? It's simple. Hiring a personal injury attorney to represent you costs you nothing upfront and nothing out of pocket. There are no initial costs or fees.
Your Right to Compensation
When you are injured because of someone else's negligence or carelessness, you have a legal right to be compensated, or paid, for the damages you have suffered. Damages can include medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, loss of future earning capacity and property damage. These damages can be recovered, or paid back to you, by filing a personal injury claim in civil court.
The idea is to compensate, or make up for, the harm the negligent person caused by paying money for the damages.
What Is a Contingency Fee?
Many personal injury attorneys represent injured people on a contingency fee basis. That means you can hire an attorney to represent you without paying by the hour.
Personal injury attorneys only get paid if the client receives money from those responsible for causing them harm. The attorney gets a percentage of whatever compensation they win for the client, plus any costs associated with pursuing the case. The client gets the rest.
Personal injury attorneys frequently say, "We don't get paid unless you do." It's true. If no money is recovered, the client pays no attorney fees. At some law firms, the client may be responsible for court costs or other expenses in unsuccessful claims. MyPhillyLawyer guarantees there are no costs to the client if there is no recovery of compensation.
The person or organization that caused your injuries and their insurance company are responsible, or liable, for compensating you. Of course, the insurance company wants to pay you as little as possible. A personal injury attorney's job is to see that you receive maximum compensation for the full extent of the damages.
Access to Justice
A contingency fee arrangement means there is no risk to the injured person. It makes quality legal representation affordable and accessible to everyone. Very few people could afford a lawyer if they had to pay attorney's fees upfront and by the hour. Contingency fee representation gives average people access to justice.
Personal injury lawyers take all the risks in order to share in the rewards at the end of the case. This works to the benefit of both clients and their attorneys. The more attorneys win for clients, the more they get to keep for themselves.
Personal injury lawyers can put in thousands of hours of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs to prepare a case for trial. If they don't win, they don't get paid. All the work and expense were for nothing.
To avoid this problem, most personal injury attorneys are very careful about the cases they accept. They know that juries are not inclined to award damages to people who aren't truly and seriously injured. It's not worth the time and expense to pursue frivolous injury claims.
Choosing a Law Firm
The law firm you choose to represent you should have the experience and financial resources required to pursue your claim.
Understanding contingency fee representation helps injured people make wise choices. Because they are not paying by the hour, it doesn't cost any more to retain an experienced law firm with a long record of success.
Most personal injury law firms also offer a free consultation to discuss your case. This is a good time to ask about costs and fees. Also ask whether they have handled similar cases, what kinds of results they have achieved, and whether the lawyers have taken similar cases to trial. If the opposition knows the lawyer will take the case to trial, they may be more likely to offer a settlement outside the courtroom.
Complex personal injury claims can sometimes take years to resolve. It is important that you have confidence in your lawyer and feel comfortable working with him or her.
To learn more about personal injury law, please visit myphillylawyer.com.
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