When you are dealing with pain and economic hardship after a car or truck accident in the DFW area, the last thing you want to think about is spending a lot of money on an attorney. Or you may be afraid that you cannot afford to hire a top-rated car accident attorney, This post will answer your questions about what a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer fee is and why it is your best option.
So How Much Does a Fort Worth Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?
All injury attorneys base their fees on a contingency basis. That means if there is no win, the lawyer is free. This is a rare way that professionals charge.
On the other hand, most other lawyers either charge by the minute (sometimes up to $700 to $1,000 an hour), and each phone call, letter, email, and court appearance is billed. This can get very expensive very quickly. Still other attorneys charge a large flat fee and demand a one-half retainer upfront. Both charge even if they lose your case or you are not happy with their work.
The beauty of the contingent fee is that an injured person never pays any money down or anything unless they are compensated. The more the injury lawyer can make for you and the faster they perform, the more and quicker he gets paid, a big incentive for them. So it’s a win-win situation.
There are three possible Fort Worth personal injury lawyer fees, depending on how far along your case is:
- If we successfully resolve your case without filing a lawsuit, which happens frequently, our fees will be 33 1/3% (one-third) of your overall settlement
- If we have to file a lawsuit and go to court to litigate your claim for damages, we charge 40% of your settlement.
- If we file a lawsuit but agree on a settlement before going to a trial, we charge between 33 1/3 and 40%, again depending on the timeline.
We will analyze all of the variables and help you make the best decision on whether you should settle out of court or go to trial. Almost every injury case (99%) settles outside of court.
We at Berenson Injury Law also take that a step further and never charge our clients for
- Helping our clients get their vehicles totaled or repaired and getting paid for damaged personal property;
- Collecting Personal Injury Protection or Medical Payments proceeds. Earlier this week, we waived our fee on the $10,000 we collected, saving our client $3,333, after maxing out a $100,000 insurance policy and getting him a huge recovery. And today we maxed out a $50,000 policy and then saved him a lot of money when we did not charge a fee for collecting $5,000 from PIP.
- Also, we do not charge any interest on emergency loans or other fees.
In addition, we do not charge for the expenses we have already paid if they do not somehow win their case (which rarely, if ever, happens)
This makes the decision to hire a good car accident lawyer even easier.
One reason is that going to court can take several years. Another is that it is very frustrating. Further, you never know what 12 strangers are going to think of your case and how much money they might give you. And it is very expensive. There are hefty costs, including the filing of the petition, serving the defendant(s) with process, taking depositions, and ordering medical reports that may be reimbursed by the negligent party. We will advance these expenses for you if we file a lawsuit, so you do not have to pay them upfront.
We will discuss the settlement offer, expenses, and how much money you will receive in detail and answer all of your questions. We will get your approval and get you paid as soon as possible.
The money you receive is not taxed by the federal or state government so it is worth even more to you.
Is a Hiring an Injury Lawyer a Worthwhile Investment?
You may be considering representing yourself in a car accident lawsuit to save money. However, the reality is that you are much less likely to secure an adequate settlement that will meet your needs if you go it alone.
Insurance company supervisors and attorneys are not afraid of taking you on in a courtroom. This is not something the average person can figure out by watching a YouTube video.
First, there is a huge amount of detailed legal work involved in filing a claim for insurance benefits. Knowledge of medicine and insurance and strong verbal and math skills are also useful. Unless you have done this before, you will not know where to begin.
You will have to do a complete investigation of the collision and establish 100% liability on the other driver. This can be a complicated project. You will need to obtain a certified copy of the police report, photographs, videotape, measurements, and statements from eyewitnesses and body shops.
You will need to obtain copies of your complete medical reports, bills, insurance payments, your payments, lost wage verification, and proof of other damages.
You will need to draft a carefully worded demand letter and submit the relevant evidence to the other driver’s insurance company and give it a deadline that comply with Texas law.
You will have to know how to calculate a fair value for your claim, negotiate a fair settlement amount, pay off outstanding hospital, government, and insurance subrogation liens and medical bills, and obtain releases.
If government entities such as Medicare, Medicaid, workers compensation, TriCare, Veterans Administration, or others have made payments, you will have to know how the law treats their interests and pay them accordingly.
If negotiations with the at-fault party’s insurance company fail, you will have to file and prosecute your lawsuit which is a complicated process, even for an experienced attorney.
We complete these jobs every day, so we can do them quickly and efficiently. However, if you attempt them by yourself, it will take you a lot of time and cause a lot of stress.
Should you make a mistake when filling out forms or obtaining and submitting evidence, it could result in long delays, a much lower offer, or even an outright denial.
Further, insurance companies know they can bully and low-ball claimants who try to negotiate deals without legal representation. These giant corporations employ teams of expert lawyers and personnel to reduce the amounts they have to pay to accident victims. These attorneys know every trick in the book when it comes to delaying, minimizing, and denying valid claims.
You will find it impossible to counteract their tactics without a top-class Fort Worth car accident lawyer on your side.
Example of a Fort Worth Personal Injury Lawyer Fee
Consider the following scenario. A negligent driver crashes into you and causes major damage to your vehicle and painful physical injuries to you. You have no way to get to work and lose a week’s wages as you fight the insurance company and body shop, and try to figure out which doctor will see you.
Instead of consulting with an attorney, you decide to attempt to negotiate a settlement with the at-fault driver’s insurance company yourself. After many months, the company agent offers you $8,000 for vehicle repair, which is not enough to cover the cost, and $1,500.00 for medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages, even though you were charged $8,000.00 for the bills alone. But you accept because you need the money.
Had you brought your case to an experienced accident lawyer, they would have increased the offer substantially. They could have ensured that the insurance company agreed to pay for your past and future medical costs, as well as general damages for the disability, impairment, disfigurement, pain, emotional trauma, and loss of enjoyment of life the collision caused you. He or she may have negotiated a pre-suit settlement for $25,000.00 to 30,000 or even more. At $30,000, You might have obtained $20,000 in compensation, $18,500.00 more for your injuries and medical bills than before, without having to do any work on your own.
Studies have proven that liability insurance companies pay far more money to injured people who are represented by counsel.
This kind of situation happens all the time. Claimants with no legal representation accept low offers because they don’t know how to value their claims or how to successfully defend themselves from devious insurance company tactics.
Don’t fall into this trap.
Other Benefits of Hiring a Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney
As we explain in this post, there are a lot of ways in which a good Fort Worth car accident lawyer can help you following a collision. These include:
- Using their network of healthcare providers to ensure you get excellent medical treatment and follow-up care as soon as possible after your crash.
- Helping you make medical decisions and how to read your medical records.
- Paying for some of your medical costs upfront, arranging substantial discounts, and deferring payment on others.
- Ordering your complete medical records and bills and paying for the handling expenses upfront for you.
- Helping you through the difficult and confusing parts of the process that follow collisions.
- Reducing your medical bills (we had a client’s expenses cut by over $20,000 earlier this week).
- Taking care of every detail and insuring you don’t become overwhelmed by what is a complicated process.
Getting the Results You Deserve
So as you can see, the question you should be asking is not “can I afford to hire a car accident lawyer?” but “can I afford NOT to hire a car accident lawyer?” If your settlement does not cover all your damages and costs, the decision to go it alone could be a very expensive one.
Contact Berenson Law today to schedule a free and confidential consultation. There is no reason not to call and ask us questions and learn more about your legal rights.
Still not sure if we can get the job done for you? Read over 600 5-star reviews online from our past clients and see what they had to say.
You can reach us on our web form or over the phone at 817-885-8000.