Slip and Fall Cases in Pennsylvania: How Contingency Fees Work

Contingency fees legally mean a payment arrangement where an attorney receives financial compensation if they successfully represent and resolve their client’s case. In other words, they will only receive their service fees if they get compensation for their client. That means if a personal injury victim does not get compensation for damages after filing their claim, neither will their lawyer.

Most personal injury law firms and attorneys in Pennsylvania take cases contingently. This blog post explains how contingency fees work in Pennsylvania, particularly in slip-and-fall cases.

What a Contingency Fee Agreement Entails

When both parties sign a contingency fee agreement, you agree on the award percentage that accrues to each party. That is, the percentage will be in terms of fees (for your lawyer) and damages (for you). When that is done, the attorney carries on with the case and makes any payment for the process for their account, knowing that they will get it back from the percentage that will accrue to them upon completion.

However, if you do not recover compensation, you will not return any fees or expenses to the lawyer. In addition, you do not have to pay anything upfront to hire a contingency fee attorney.

General Contingency Fee Percentage in Pennsylvania: Are There Additional Fees?

Contingency fees apply in a wide range of personal injury cases, including slip and fall accidents and medical malpractice claims. The fee is typically a percentage of the total amount you can recover through negotiations or a lawsuit. Meanwhile, the percentage of contingency fees the attorney collects can either be one-third or approximately 40 percent.

Apart from this percentage, however, the lawyer may charge additional fees for expenses such as filing, research, expert, and other court fees. Usually, your attorney will pay for these things out of their own pocket, expecting to be reimbursed from our settlement or award. For this reason, you must discuss all possible fees and expenses with your attorney upfront. Discussing these fees upfront helps you avoid surprises or misunderstandings when it is time to pay them.

Methods for Structuring Contingency Fees

Attorneys and their clients can structure contingency fees in personal injury claims in more ways than one. The most common way to structure contingency fees is the pure or straight method. In the straight method, the total of some of the claims may not be known, but the attorney and the client will agree that a percentage of whatever the claim is at any point it ends will be given to the attorney.

Hybrid and modified fees are other standard methods for structuring contingency fees in personal injury cases. In the hybrid structuring method, the attorney will receive a smaller percentage of the entire compensation but will charge hourly rates. In modified fees, the attorney receives a smaller percentage of the settlement or award from trial. However, they will only get paid if they can recover money for their client; this method is less popular than the first two.

Conclusion

“Personal injury cases in Pennsylvania involve complicated processes and are time-consuming, which means you will need to pay attention to the details if you want to win,” says attorney Jeffrey Lowenthal. Furthermore, most personal injury lawyers and firms work on a contingency basis, whereby they only get paid if you get your compensation. However, confirm from the attorney that they work on contingencies before you hire them and discuss additional fees to avoid misunderstandings later on.