I feel that I have a strong case but I can’t pay for a law suit. What do I do?

Video Transcription

One of the advantages of the American legal system is that you can hire a lawyer on a “contingency fee”. A contingency fee essentially means that the right of a lawyer to be paid for his time and his work is contingent—or dependent—on the outcome of the case. Most attorneys who take injury cases will do so on a contingency fee. That being said, if you are in a position to pay an attorney hundreds of dollars an hour, you might seek an attorney on an hourly basis; however, most people aren’t in that position, which is why most personal injury cases are handled on a contingency fee.

This contingency fee is what can help level the playing field for those that have been injured. Your case against the person who injured you is being backed by a large, heavily financed adversary—the insurance company. They are doing whatever they can to defeat your claim or minimize whatever they have to pay you, but you’ve got a level playing field because your lawyer is taking your case on a contingency fee. They will pay all of the necessary costs out of their own pocket in order to put your case together. In many instances, these costs can be upwards of tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you have a serious enough injury, if your claim is good enough, and has potential, you will find an attorney who is willing to pay all of these costs upfront in order to put your case together.

The costs associated with a personal injury case can be quite expensive. Certain experts may need to be hired in order to fully support your case, such as:

• The doctor who treated your injuries, or another medical expert may need to be hired in order to share your medical records, explain the scope of the injuries or the residual problems that may be associated with the injury.
• Accident reconstruction experts or safety engineers may be needed if there are disputes over how an accident happened or whether the condition in which the accident occurred was unsafe.
• Experts in human factors may be needed to determine whether or not it’s reasonable to expect that the person who injured you should have been aware of certain things, under the conditions.
• Economists may need to be retained to discuss the financial impact that injuries may have on you.
• A vocational rehabilitation expert who may be needed to retrain someone who is unable to work in their former profession and needs to be retrained to do something else that is consistent with the limitations that the person has a result of their injuries.

These are just some of the experts who may need to be retained in personal injury cases where negligence is involved and significant injuries have been experienced by the plaintiff. The attorney hires all of these people, pays them and gets their assistance to help analyze all of the information to put your case together and, if necessary, to testify on your behalf in court.

Among other things, your attorney may also be required to pay for:

• Depositions
• Subpoenaing records
• Charts, graphs to help present statistical data relevant to the case
• Illustrations or animations that show the scene of the accident in order to demonstrate how it happened
• 3D renders or physical models to help show how your injury looks (if it’s an internal injury).

There are often many resources required and measures that must be taken when filing a claim against individuals or insurance companies in California as a result of an injury.

If you have been injured and you have a significant claim, the advantage you have is that you will be able to find an attorney who will pay all of these costs for your case, put it all together and will wait to get paid until there is a successful outcome—or else they won’t be paid at all. At the Law Office of Reuben J. Donig in San Carlos, California, we handle all personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, so we will not charge you unless you recover compensation as a result of our efforts. Contact our law firm today for a free personal injury consultation.